See Week 3’s blog here!

Shelmet

This week started off strong for Shelmet! We started fleshing out the specifics of our chosen solution from the end of Week 3 and realized that modularity — a key aspect of the chosen solution — may become redundant throughout the manufacturer-to-user process. Thus, we pivoted to another solution idea revolving around having a fixed layout with an emphasis on creating simple components with solid documentation. With a more tangible solution idea in mind, we started building!

Chif and I worked to hand-wire a 2×4 keyboard. We got it to function as a plug-in keyboard using the ESP32 — a versatile microcontroller that Chif had some prior experience with. Meanwhile, Ben and Abubakr developed the physical casing using 3D modeling and then laser-cutting wood. We ended the week with our first prototype that was able to type wirelessly via Bluetooth.

Next week, we hope to troubleshoot some issues with the physical casing and incorporate the velcro straps. We also expect to receive a different microcontroller — the nice!nano v2.0 — that was developed specifically for keyboards and explore its functionality with our project.

OneFiftyHertz

Welcome Chif to the group! With his experience in electrical engineering and his interests in haptics, Mina and I were eager to have him helping out with this project.

This week, we received the components that our client ordered for us. After playing around with them, I was able to get the haptics to vibrate. However, we encountered an issue pretty quickly where the eight haptics went out of sync after the first couple of buzz sequences. Going back to the research that I did on the components, I figured that the issue could be the extremely long length of the wires that connected the haptics to the rest of the circuit, and we tested how shorter wires would work out. With the shortened wires, the eight haptics remained in sync for much much longer.

Next week, we hope to figure out how to control the frequency and strength of the vibrations, if possible with the components on hand. If not, we are looking to receive PCBs assembled at our client’s workplace to recreate the prototype from last year’s work on the project.

 

Overall, this week was pretty exciting!

Till next time : )