Project Development¶
In this page, I will be taking you though the entire journey of developing my final project😶🌫️
Week 1¶
Initial design plans¶
You can find out more about my initial design plans, the reason behind my project, and its working mechanism by cliking here.
Week 2¶
3D designing¶
I had originally planned on just making a simple box for my device but during one of our local sessions, Rico suggested that I try making something a bit more creative since designing just a regular rectangular box was way too basic and boring😭. Therefore, I tried to think of new ways to design it. I thought of various different shapes like a hexagon(to make it resemble a honey comb) and a triangle(to sort of make it look likle a pyramid).
However, none of them made sense to me. That’s when an idea clicked in my head while I was watching Adventure Time! Why not make the storage box looks like BMO(a character from the show)? I had already thought of making the box resemble a robot so incoporating BMO in my design would be so much more cooler!
Designing the structure of my final project
This is how the first 3D design of my final project turned out:
Week 3¶
Rough Circuit designing¶
This week, I made sure to make a rough sketch of how my circuit will look like so that I will have a clearer vision of my project in my head. In the upcoming weeks, I will make sure to try it using an online simulator. Again, this is a very rough sketch.
Week 5¶
Cardbox prototype¶
This week, our instructor made us make a carbox prototype of our final project. This activity was very (emphasis on the very) helpful to us. It made us think about where we were going to mount all out electronics and how they were going to be connected to eachother.
This is how mine turned out after HOURS of hardwork.
This is when I open the door to the box. The small hole in the front is for the electromagnets to lock the door. As you can see there are 6 compartments for each iPad.
Here is a clearer view of the inside of the compartment. I have made a smaller compartment under each space for the iPads to place my pressure sensor which leads to the back of the box, for good wiring.
This is the top of the box where I will be mounting my electromagnets and RFID reader.
This is the hidden compartment where I will be placing my extension cord to charge the iPads and mounting the microcontrollers in.
Week 6¶
Demo final project board¶
For the assignment of week 6, I made the first demo of my final project board. However, this time, I will only be using one pressure sensor so that I can have enough pins to use the Xiao-ESP32-C3 microcontoller which is the most recommended microcontroller.
This is how my finished schematic design looks like.
And here is my completed PCB design.
For more details, tap here.
Week 8¶
Changes!¶
After our meeting with Mr. Rico yesterday, I made a lot of changes which are:
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Instead of pressure sensors, I will be using Hall Effect Sensors because it is more durable, reliable, and more compact.
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I also changed the structure of my box. The slots will now be arranged vertically instead of horizontally in order to distribute the heat evenly.
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I will be using at least 2 electromagnets since 1 will not be enough to lock the door properly.
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Instead of using the ESP32WROOM32 as my microcontroller, I will be using 2 Xiao microcontrollers instead since it will be more simpler and easier to manage.
Electromagnet and Relay module¶
Since this week’s assignment required us to make and test a microcontroller, I made my first demo of my board for my final project. My board only consists of 1 Xiao with 1 elctromagnet, RFID reader, and a pressure sensor.
Here is my complete soldered board:
Mistake!!
I was not aware that in order to use a pressure sensor, the HX711 load cell amplifier was required😭. That’s why in place of the pressure sensor, I used a switch to turn the electromagnet on and off.
Results
Learnings
From this activity, I was able to find out that 1 electromagnet was not going to be strong enough to lock the door of my project in place, which is why I will now be using a minimum of 2 electromagnets in my final project.
You will be able to get more details in my documentation for week 8.
Thank You!
The template for this website was provided by Mr. Anith Ghalley and used with his permission