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16. System integration

This assignment was new and has never done before. And this week we had to do system integration for our final project. And it so happened that I have already started creating my final project. And since I’m an industrial designer, I’ll show you my approach to design in general. Here I will describe the design process in a few specific points.

  • Packaging
  • Mechanism alignment
  • Ergonomics
  • UI-UX, usability
  • Assembly

Design Concept

So let me start by saying that I love working outdoors, but working with a laptop is not so easy. There are special devices on the market for working with a laptop, such as laptop tables or holders. But none of them are suitable for working outdoors And so the concept of my design is to create a sketchbook for digital artists that will be convenient to transport and use outdoors and will also have built-in devices for more convenient work.

Packaging

As you have already seen, I started with a concept and started working out the details one by one.

The first device that I would like to implement in my project is the Space Mouse, which allows for more convenient and smooth manipulation in 3D programs, and this device also works on various programs for drawing, video and audio editing, and etc.

I started my project with CAD modeling, first drawing the table the way I imagined it.

I decided to use 4 Joystick HW-504 CAD for emulate spacemouse using keyboard library.

To do this I draw a mounting bracket for joystick and find the form and dimension of PCB.

After that i started to design PCB for SpaceMouse . In this process I select the pins that i wanted to use, by considering that i will use some pins for the touch keyboard

So the design was easy: I just set the dimensions of my board and added 4 connectors for the joysticks.And I also add my logo.

The main reason for using this board is the neat wire routing.

Then I cut it using Roland machine and solder connectors.

Mechanism alignment

But the mechanical part is not so easy to assemble, because everything fits neatly on the table, and I don’t have much space. Therefore, I left a minimum freedom zone for the joystick so that it would not be too large.

In the future, I’m going to treat the surface of the handle with the help of acetone and the sandpaper (I print only this part of the ABS plastic) for more smoot result .

And so I assembled all the parts, and it looks great, and all mechanical details also worked.

Ergonomics

After that, I began to design my capacitive sensory part. At first I designed the visual part at my desk and found a place for the touchpad. I used to think that I would use all 9 touch contacts of my ESP 32 and made a multiplex keyboard 5 × 4 with 20 keys, but during the design, I realized that 20 keys are too much, and I can’t place them on my desk, and I changed my mind and did it with 6 touchpads.

The second and probably the most important reason is ergonomics and convenience, because a person with one hand on a mouse cannot reach all the buttons, and if he does, then let him use the keyboard.

In this illustration you can see that when a person’s hand is on the device, his middle finger reaches a maximum of the third row, the index finger reaches the second one, and the thumb reaches the bottom sensor.

DFM Standardization

For this I decided to use FR1 PCB blank - Double Sided 4 x 6 in. (101.6 x 152.4 mm). And so that in the future I would not have problems at the production stage, I drew the dimensions of the workpiece and then designed the board.

After I designed the initial shape for the printed circuit board, I exported it via dxf to Illustrator and then I need to edit the board, namely the sensors of my board because it is much more convenient to work with curves in Illustrator. Then I will export the board to kikad and continue development there.

UI-UX, usability

I also developed icons for my device to make it convenient and understandable for users. And so here I will use the most common commands such as Undo, Redo, Copy, Paste and 2 programable aditional sensores.

I can also say that all the buttons must be programmable, since I am going to create an application for my device with which I will change macros for different commands, since most 3D programs differ in their interface.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, I can say that I tried many different methods. I came up with a lot of ideas for the final project and 1 of my ideas didn’t work out because I was kind of trying to do something with electronic components that I didn’t yet understand how they work and it turned out that the first idea was useless - because I was fixated on the fact that I need to make a lot of electronics and this idea has turned into a very complicated and useless thing. Then I had the idea to create a easel for the computer so that it would be convenient to use, and in this case I first did a lot of tests and began to figure out a little how everything worked, and then a period began when I still continued testing, but it did not lead to anything. . And when I started designing everything, it became clear what I needed and didn’t need, for example, by reducing the number of sensors from 20 to 6, I not only made it more convenient for the user, but also simplified the task. In any case, I think that you need to approach design not only from one end of electronics or design, but all this needs to be done simultaneously to achieve the best results.