Team Meeting

Our latest team meeting was held this Wednesday 16th of December.

On the meeting we showed the prototype to Joonas and Mikko as well as the android application to the technical guys have been working on. We got the information that Mikko had ordered all the yet missing parts we still need for the prototype.

The feedback we got was positive. They were happy with the results so far and asked to push in order to finish everything in time. Naturally the demo didn’t work properly when we tried to showcase it (probably something to do with the wiring of the belt), but that problem will be fixed!

We talked about the final pitch and how we are going to do it (the video part is still a question to be answered). We also talked about the ultimate wearable concept and Joonas asked some of the case examples we have preliminary thought about (like the biometric authentication, emergency navigation, augmented reality combined with your body needs etc.)

We also talked about how team Mexico will combine their idea to our ultimate wearable. Joonas will be contacting them soon on that.

Next meeting will probably be help after Christmas and until that we can do individual work amongst the team!

Team Sensing Wearables wishes you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Prototype components

On this blogpost we are going to give an update on the prototype building process. Below we describe you the main components that out prototype belt consists of.

The three main parts on the prototype are:

1) the belt: built using the vibrator motors , wires and the fabric

2) android phone for having the navigation system 

3) raspberry pi board which is a mini computer that is used for prototyping.  

On the picture you can see the elastic we are using for the prototype.

The raspberry pi board and required modules are directly connected to the belt, and controls the patterns of vibration based on the data that is generated from the navigation application in android phone and is transferred via bluetooth connection. 

We have divided the process of building the prototype into 4 main parts: 

1) building the belt mechanics

2) programming the raspberry pi for driving the belt in some predefined formats (different patterns of vibration can be defined for telling the users different things about the next move).  

3) Building an android application that is capable of turn-by-turn navigation over a free maps and navigation system. This application will send the data about the next turn and the distance remained to reach the next turn which then will be "translated" to the user by the vibration patterns. 

4) Bluetooth communication between part 2 and 3: Part 2 should be capable of receiving the bluetooth messages and part 3 should be capable of sending messages. 

The belt in the making

Where are we now?

- We have the belt (part 1) 

- We have the raspberry pi with bluetooth receiver working (part 2)

- We have the android application but not the bluetooth sender. 

We are at the second half of part 3. when we have the second half of part 3, then some tests would be needed to make sure the bluetooth communication between the phone and belt is working flawlessly, and that is when part 4 is also completed and we will be ready for final presentation. 

The aftermath

The Mid-pitch went great for out team!

Team members present at the meeting where Milla (the pitcher) and Aya (assisting with the overall presentation). We managed to give the pitch in time and got to say everything we wanted!

After the pitch we got face-2-face feedback and answered questions presented by our fellow Demola team members. One thing that arose was "how the belt actually communicates with its user?". This was not told in further detail on our presentation so it was good thing that it came and we got a chance to explain the sensors technology we use on the prototype belt (small sensors situated 360 around the belt inner surface).

Next stage is to work on the prototype itself which the guys ( Enrico, Vafa and Ilkka) are building as we speak.

More pics coming from that later!

Preparing for the Mid-Pitch

We had two meeting concerning the Mid-Pitch. Last week (9th of November) we held a meeting with Esa, Aya and Milla where we made the base for the presentation and made the manuscript for the pitch.

We met again on the 16th. We decided that Milla is going to be the pitcher and practiced the speech. At first it was over 1,5 minutes too long so many adjustment we're made. 

Wish us luck!!!

- Milla

Team meeting @TUT

We had a meeting at TUT with Esa, Aya, Enrico and Milla present. It was cool to se one of the "technical guys", since lately we have been working in two teams - the ones that work on the concept, presentations, pitches, value side and the ones that build the prototype and do all the technical side with the programming.

We we're further refining the concept, both future & prototype. The storyline of the video we are gonna shoot for the final pitch was also discussed. We came up with four categories for additional features that could be added to the sensors in the future, when the technology is ready for it. The 4 categories are: Navigation, Health, Safety and Privacy.

Here you can see a picture of the icons of the 4 categories:

Pics of the prototype

Some ideas about the design of the prototype put into paper:

Update

We had a meeting last on Wednesday 21st where we met our Demola facilitator Joonas for the first time. We got the part we had asked for from Intel's behalf so now we can start looking into the prototype even further.

Milla & Aya stayd at Demola after the meeting and made a detailed draft of the time line of the whole process. We color coordinated different parts of it according to who's responsibility the task is. This list is then turned into a chart so that it is more easy to the eye to look at.

Next meeting in on Monday 26th. Then Milla & Aya are gonna start working on the visual design of the prototype + future product and discuss details concerning the video we are planning to make to be shown at the final pitch.

We are getting busy!!!

Some sketching

This meeting was devoted to the prototype development. The team members were looking for the appropriate and available resources, they also considered the basic principles of the working prototype. The team members working on the technical side of the project are Vafa, Ilkka and Enrico. The approximate timeline of the development process was planned in the meeting.

Here are some sketches the guys drew concerning the prototype:

To get it going

Last week we had the meeting, where we designed our prototype. There we investigated all the technical limitations and verified what was possible to do during the time we have for the project. We also seperated our big group into two sub-groups. The other will focues more on making the actual prototype to function and the other group will focus on the future concept as well as pitching. The two groups are still co-ordinated by the project manager Esa and will co-operate whenver necessary. This way we can make the most out of our time and our skills. With small groups it's easier to talk about all the things as most of our project members are super busy with work and school. Present were Aya, Enrico, Ilkka and Vafa. 

Yesteday we had a meeting, where we made a list of all the things we need. We also agreed on sending the list of things we need at the end of the week to our project partner. It seems that our techincal experts really have a good handle on the project and I'm sure that we are going to have an extraordinary final product at the end of the project. Can't wait for the next meeting! Present at this meeting were, Esa, Aya, Enrico, Ilkka and Vafa. 

The next steps are getting the resources we need for the prototype mid-pitching and preparations for it. 

- Esa

Team meeting

The meeting was held at the Demola premises at the 1st of September.

The first of the meeting was devoted to the Playbook review. The process was like a game, where questions were written on the paper. Each member took the certain number of the questions and answered it in the order. The questions, which were not answered fully, should be completed later.

The second part of the meeting was concentrated on the feedback from our Intel project partner-Mikko. He commented all ideas and chose two main directions of the final concept. The interested topics were Navigation system and Future person


This information allows us to take the next step towards agreeing on the idea we are gonna go forth with, and we'll start to work on the prototype of our product.

This is getting exciting! :)

Brainstorming #2

We had our second brainstorming meeting last Wednesday (30th of October). Milla, Esa and Aya took part in the meeting. We focusing on three main ideas:

1) Future person - The ultimate version of you
2) Navigation - Sensors that help you to get anywhere
3) Interactive music - Music instrument or interactive music, controlled by body sensors

The aspects we discussed where the functions that these devices/ gadgets would have and briefly exchanged ideas about the design and prototype. On week 41 when more group members will be present we will be choosing out final product that we will be focusing on. This way we can start the actual design process and budgeting with the final prototype in mind.

Once again, great meeting!

Brainstorming #1

We held our first independent team meeting this Wednesday at Demola premises. Milla, Esa, Ilkka and Ayazhan were present at the meeting. At the beginning of the meeting we divided different part of the Play book to each present team member so that we will have all the info needed filled in by the time we have our next meeting. We had set up a file on Google Docs where everyone had wrote down ideas and useful links concerning our project. 

Everyone presented the things they've found and we discussed about different ideas. Then we started to choose the ideas and features we want to include into our final product. We had ideas about the product being targeted for gamers, sporty people or for disabled people, but later on we came to the conclusion that we wan't to create something at is useful to as many people as possible. So nothing niche, instead a handy overall device that could be used by anyone anywhere at any given time. 

We decided to have our next meeting next Wednesday at the same place and time. Then we will continue the brainstorming and get an even better understanding what is the concept we are gonna go for in the end.

Very productive meeting overall!