Team Meetings

This page contains descriptions of each meeting the team has throughout the project to show the contributions of each team member and the ideas discussed a a group.

10/3/19:

On Thursday, October 8th, the teams for the project were sssigned by Dr, JAK and our team met for the first time. Dr. JAK assigned four students a hardware-focused team and four to a software-focused team that would both be working on the same project. Initially the two teams met separately.

My team discussed potential questions we could ask Philip Krieg at our initial interview with him and established when all four of us were available to meet during the school week. By the end of the first meeting we realized that we would need to work closely with the other for students to be able to succeed at this project. We decided that members from both the hardware and software team would be present at the interview so that we could all understand the expectations Phillip Krieg has for us and understand how we can work together to meet these expectations.

10/8/19:

Today our team met after Jack and I interviewed Phil so that I could catch up the hardware team members on what we discussed in the interview and make a team contract. We all signed our contract and immediately started brainstorming and doing some quick research as we are all eager to begin this project.

10/10/19:

Place: Class

Purpose: To create Gantt Chart for the reminder of the project

Members: Ethan, Eva, Joce, Thea

Check in:
- Everyone attended
Agenda review:
- Find a Gantt chart template and fill in assigned tasks respective to our team and project.
Approval of minutes:
- 1 hour
Project report timeline:
- Worked on creating the Gantt chart for our team project and made sure everyone had an equal amount of tasks and workload. We discussed what we will do during our next class period and decided to go to the Forge Garden together to measure the base f the beehive, take pictures of the base, and make some sketches.
Decision:
- Work on Draft Introduction of Final Report at next meeting, Due 10/17/19.
Next Meeting:
- 10/15 Tuesday at 4:30 PM

10/15/19:

Place: Library Study Room

Purpose: To write Draft Introduction for HW 3.

Members: Ethan, Eva, Joce, Thea

Check in:
- Every attended, but Eva was 15 minutes late to the meeting.
Agenda review:
- Write Draft Introduction for the Final Report and discuss current research everyone has done.
Approval of minutes:
- Thirty minutes in the Study Room plus work outside the meeting.
Project report timeline:
- Joce, Ethan, and Thea added fishing touches to the Gantt chart. Everyone wrote and formatted most of the draft introduction. We are aware that we need to add our research to the introduction as we continue to do more. After the meeting ended everyone continued to add to the draft and edit it.
Decision:
- Go to Forge Garden during Thursday's class time and start sketching out ideas and designing subassemblies of the final product.
Next Meeting:
- 10/17/19 during class time.

10/22/19:

Place: Heafey

Purpose: Design Meeting

Members: Ethan, Eva, Joce, Thea

Check in:
- Everyone is here and on time.
Agenda review:
- We talked mostly about the design of the beehive scale. At the start of the meeting Eva introduced an idea she was working on for the project design. The design was to use a motor attached to a scissor lift. When the program runs the motor will run the scissor jack and press a platform with the load cells to the bottom of the beehive to get the weight calculation of beehive for a couple seconds. After the weight is calculated the motor will run the program again in reverse to bring the scale down. We then as a group discussed the idea and went through the alternative solutions, but we decided this would be the best design to move forward with. We then spent time figuring out what kind of motor to use, what load cells to buy (probably from a wii fit board),what type of wood to buy, and what kind of jack scissor lift to use. We also discussed weighing the empty beehive to calculate how much the motor needs to lift to figure out what scissor jack lift to buy or potential 3D print. We will do this on Thursday during class time as well as meet with Phil give an update and ask for more clarifications surrounding the beehive and the bees.
Approval of minutes:
- We all agreed to meet for an hour (60 minutes).
Project report timeline:
- Introduced design idea
- Approved design idea
- Looked for specific parts to use/ buy for prototype/ final design build.
- Schedule meeting at Forge Garden to weigh unoccupied beehive and meet with Phil
Decision:
- Now we have a design idea.
- Look for parts to use/buy for prototype/ final design; we will decide what to buy on Thursday.
- Meet at Forge Garden to weigh beehive and meet with Phil.
Next Meeting:
- 10/24/19 2:15-5pm in Heafey ENGR 110 classroom.

10/29/19:

Place: Heafey Atrium

Purpose: Finish final report

Members: Joce, Thea, Ethan, and Eva

Check in:
- Everyone is here and on time.
Agenda review:
- First we discussed our progress using the 3D Printer to print out our scissor jack, which should be done by the end of the day. The jack is currently being printed out in various parts using three different printers. The rest of the meeting we are planning on working on our first Design Reflection so that it will be done and submitted before class on Thursday. Eva is also currently creating the list of our finalized materials so that Dr. JAK can order these pieces and we can begin to actually build our prototype. Eva will meet with Dr. JAK during her office hours tomorrow to see if she would possibly be willing to buy our load cells after our prototype if we find that they are not accurate enough. Everyone will work on one section of the final report and then we will edit each individual’s parts and make the essay into one cohesive full paper. Thea and Ethan worked on defining the critical customer and describing the project's impact. Joce reflected on the social realities and injustices ur community or partner may face as well as marginalization of related groups. Eva discussed our partner's role in the community and the knowledge they need to succeed at what they are doing. When the pieces are completed printed we will be able to continue with the prototype. During our class time Thursday we will make a trip to home depot to get the wood for our prototype and begin to assemble it.
Approval of minutes:
- We all agreed to meet for an hour (60 minutes).
Project report timeline:
- Purchased/Printed materials for prototype
- Completed Design Reflection
Decision:
- Load cells will be bought from SparkFun as well as an adaptor for our load cells to be plugged into.
- The final report will be completely edited and submitted before Wednesday.
Next Meeting: Thursday during class time.

11/5/19:

Place: Heafey

Purpose: Finish Status Update Presentation and discuss prototype

Members: Ethan, Eva, Joce, Thea

Check in:
- Everyone is here
Agenda review:
- Go over progress with prototype and prepare for status update presentation. We also are looking at the load cells, amplifier, and combinator that were just delivered from SparkFun.
Approval of minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- When we first arrived we all looked at the items that Joce picked up from Dr. JAK that had just been delivered. Eva showed everyone the circuit she made for the motor and explained how she planned to connect the motor to the scissor jack for the prototype. Joce showed everyone the layout she made online to laser cut into acrylic to build a mode beehive for the prototype. We also did some research on how to set up the load cells using the combinator and amplifier. Everyone contributed to making the slideshow for the status update presentation. Eva added information on research and design process. Joce covered our key takeaways and what we have left to complete. Thea filled in information on issues we have faces and what tasks we have completed. Ethan worked on establishing background information on our project, including our project definition.
Decision:
- We will give the load cells and Arduino we are borrowing from Dr. JAK to the software team to see if they can get the load cells working for prototyping while we wait for the Raspberry Pi to be delivered. We will all practice our parts for the presentation and review and add to our slides. Joce is going to laser cut acrylic in the Maker Lab and build a mini model beehive for our prototype.
Next Meeting:
- 11/7 in class, 2:15-5:00 PM

11/12/19:

Place: Heafey

Purpose: Present our Status Update Presentation and discuss future goals for our project.

Members: Ethan, Eva, Joce, Thea

Check in:
- Everyone is here
Agenda review:
- Update on the Raspberry Pi and finish up our reflection #2 assignment.
Approval of minutes:
- 1 Hour
Project report timeline:
- We started off the meeting by talking about if the software team recieved the Raspberry Pi yet which they have not. We are now getting nervous about finishing our prototype on time and leaving enough time to work on our final concept design. As a team we decided if it the Raspberry Pi doesn’t show up soon like this Thursday 11/14 we will tell the software team use an arduino to start writing out the code. After that was taken care of we finished up our reflection #2. We also mentioned that we will start cutting out the base that the hive scale will rest on for the prototype (if not both the prototype and the final product) next class time.
Decision:
- We finished our reflection #2 assignment and decided to talk to the software team about coding the arduino instead of waiting for the Raspberry Pi. We will also cut out our wooden base next class.
Next Meeting:
- 11/14 in class
- 2:15 - 5 PM

11/17/19:

Place: Heafey Atrium

Purpose: Test load cells and discuss goals for Week 10

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, Remy, and Dwight

Check in:
- Everyone that could attend was there but we were missing Ethan, Jack, and Anugrah
Agenda Review:
- Try to upload code to Raspberry Pi, test load cells with motor, and start Final Draft
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- Remy and Dwight arrived two hours earlier then the hardware team to work with the code and get it ready for us to being the load cells. Unfortunately, there were problems with the code and we did not have male-female jumper wires so we decided to try and connect the load cells to Arduino and try to see values. After a few attempts we were able to connect the load cells and there were values in pounds appearing on the serial monitor. While Remy, Dwight, and I were working with the circuit, Thea and Joce started our Final Report draft and assigned each of us a part. Thea is in charge of writing the abstract, Ethan is writing the introduction, Joce is writing the Discussion section, and I am writing the results and analysis.
Decision:
- I am going to get male-female jumper wires from Dr. JAK on only so that we can use the raspberry Pi on Tuesday. Remy and Dwight are going to keep working on the code. Everyone is going to work on populating their section of the draft.
Next Meeting:
- Tuesday 11/19 at 4 PM in Heafey

11/19/19:

Place: Heafey Atrium

Purpose: Upload code to Raspberry Pi and test load cells

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, Ethan, Remy, Jack, Anugrah, and Dwight

Check in:
- Everyone attended
Agenda Review:
- Try to upload code to Raspberry Pi, test load cells with motor, and work on Final Draft
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- Joce and Thea were working on the Final draft while I was resetting up the load cell circuit. Jack, Remy, and Dwight were working on the code some more. I also started to play with my wiper tor and see if I could get it to run, but I did not have a strong enough power source. Remy asked her friend for help on the code and realized that the code was not recognizing files she had saved. We still could not get the code to upload to the Pi. Dwight added some code to the Arduino program to connect the motor to the load cells. We were able to get the motor to turn when a load was applied to the load cells using the Arduino.
Decision:
- Remy and I are going to talk to Dr. JAK tomorrow about our concerns, Jack is going to take the Pi to see if he can figure out why we are having issues. The rest of us are going to finish our sections of the final draft.
Next Meeting:
- Thursday 11/21 in class

11/21/19:

Place: Heafey and Forge Garden

Purpose: Take wiper motor to Forge Garden to power with 12 V battery.

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, Ethan, Remy, Jack, Anugrah, and Dwight

Check in:
- Everyone attended
Agenda Review:
- Try to get wiper motor to work using 12 V battery connected to the solar panel in the Forge Garden.
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- All of us walked over to the Forge Garden to get the 12 V battery. When we connected the wiper motor directly to the battery the motor ran! It was exciting until, Eva got stung by a bee since the battery is locked right behind the existing beehives. We decided to tried and connect the wiper motor in circuit with a Dual H-Bridge and and the external battery. Unfortunately, we connected the external battery wrong and fried the Dual H-Bridge and broke the Arduino.
Decision:
- We are going to use the Arduino to test the load cells for creep over Thanksgiving Break.
Next Meeting:
- Tuesday 12/3 in Heafey

12/3/19:

Place: Heafey Atrium

Purpose: Dsicuss load cell issues with software team and work on final presentation

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, Ethan, Remy, Anugrah, and Dwight

Check in:
- Everyone attended
Agenda Review:
- Work on final presentation and discuss final tasks for project assembly and work with load cells with new Arduino.
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- We connected the load cells to the new Arduino, but when we uploaded the code the load cells were reading zero pounds no matter how much weight was on them. We found out that Jack made no progress over break with the Raspberry Pi. The Hardware team made plans for Wednesday night to meet and connect the motor to the scissor jack.
Decision:
- We are going to connect everything tomorrow and hope that the software team will be Abel to figure out the load cells.
Next Meeting:
- Wednesday 12/4 at Ethan's house

12/4/19:

Place: Ethan's House

Purpose: Finish final assembly and test it.

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, and Ethan

Check in:
- Everyone attended
Agenda Review:
- Finish prototype and test demonstration for the presentation.
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- Eva worked with the load cells while Thea and Ethan worked on the assembly, ad Joce worked on the final presentation. Eva could not figure out hoe t get the load cells to work and the software team was not being helpful. We finished our assembly a much s we could without the load cells.
Decision:
- We are going to talk to the software team tomorrow and try and get them help us fix them.
Next Meeting:
- Thursday 12/5, the final presentation

12/8/19:

Place: Healey Atrium

Purpose: Finish final report

Members: Eva, Joce, Thea, and Ethan

Check in:
- Joce could not attend, but she was working on the Google Doc on her own.
Agenda Review:
- Finish final report
Approval of Minutes:
- 2 hours
Project report timeline:
- Everyone worked on their assigned sections and we all discussed what needed to ddd and rearrange. Joce went through and made sure we had all of the required information.
Decision:
- Eva is going to fix the page numbers on Word and submit it on Monday.