Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income

1. Dissemination and intellectual property

Final project: Expressive Desktop Companion Robot — a desktop interactive assistant for company and everyday help. Planning notes for this week sit next to the build plan in Week 17.

1.1 Who is it for?

People who work at a desk and want a small robot that can keep company and react to expression and color. Other Fab Academy students and Fab Lab visitors who want to rebuild or adapt a similar machine.

1.2 How will it be shared?

• This site: weekly pages, the final project page, and the design files linked from the relevant weeks.
• The class presentation: summary slide and short video in the site root once they meet the required size.
• UNNC FabLab: show the robot in the lab when the power wiring is done.

1.3 License

Not answered yet. Which license covers the documentation, CAD, and code, and why.

Copyright / license notice on the presentation slide is also not set yet.

1.4 Income and funding

No commercial product is planned yet. The build budget from Week 17 is about ¥556 for parts that still need buying. Scaling, kits, or paid workshops are not decided.

1.5 Future possibilities

• Finish power wiring so the screen, ESP32-C3, MaixCAM, servo board, and motor board share one supply.
• Keep expression and color recognition, then improve how the arm and the face on the screen answer together.

The arm reinforcement is done. The next step that unlocks the full demo is a shared power supply.

2. Project progress

2.1 What tasks have been completed, and what remains?

Most of the project is built: arm and shade designs, arm reinforcement, car chassis process, electronics from earlier weeks, and the interactive web direction. Still open: connecting the power. The Week 9 input board and the Week 10 output board stay as the final boards.

2.2 What’s working? What’s not?

Working: the input and output boards from Weeks 9 and 10; the PCB design path from Week 6; the arm from Week 2, now reinforced. Not working yet as a finished system: a shared power setup for the full expression / motion demo.

2.3 What questions need to be resolved?

How to power the robot. Which license to put on the files and the slide.

2.4 What will happen when?

Arm reinforcement: done. Still need concrete dates for power wiring, the summary slide, and the presentation video.

2.5 What have you learned?

How to use these skills in a real build, and how to sort out what the project actually needs.