continuation from the previous part 2 post with some new ideas after the talk about the past FYP showcase from Assoc Prof Laura Miotto, I’ve been inspired to do something that focuses solely on the showcase, since the showcase will mark the end ADM life of all current year 3, I would like to do something for many of the peers that would enhance student’s FYP showcase capability as well as the visitor’s experience of the visit.

As the founder of Kimchi and Chips, Elliot Woods asked during the Emergent Visions Symposium,

“What is the work that only I can make?”

This question hit me like Tiger Woods golf clubbed me in the head…

Yes, what is the work that only I can make in this coming FYP showcase?

back to my first post, I’ve already know what my strength is at this point of time, I would really want my FYP to have an impact on others, why not use my strength into making other’s FYP presentation to potentially having slightly more possibility? Wouldn’t that be great?!

so, this will be an idea which I know that I would enjoy spending a year to complete.

A set of robots(3 to 6) that will display student’s work in complementary of their booth where visitor could get more information(project info/booth location).

Just imagine, every student have their booth while a robot moving around in the FYP show displaying their project on its screen, when a visitor saw it on the screen, got interested and wanted to see the booth, they simply click a “Bring me to this booth” button and the robot will do so. How much more potential exposure will that bring to that student?

And on another aspect viewing this project, what will be realer than an actual application of an FYP project during the FYP show?  What the visitor sees is what was actually made specially for that FYP show, if it doesn’t work or spoiled halfway, it simply meant that I did not plan well/have a backup or do a good enough job but there will not be an imaginative scenario where “This FYP was supposed to work in another location” *I am not saying that that kind of project isn’t good,  but just what I would not like to do* 

Project Brief ver.1-

To design a set of Robots that have the ability to move around while avoiding people/obstacles during the FYP show. The purpose of the Robots is to expand the presentation possibility of student’s project while enhancing the experiences of the visitors. Safety of the people around the robot should be of the utmost importance and under no circumstances whereby injuries caused by the robot should happens.

Project Specification Ver.1 –

1. Each Robot should have a minimum battery life of 6 hours on single charge.
2. Every Robot designed should be unique and serves different function.
3. The Robots should be designed with ease of maintenance system that allows ad hoc repair.
4. The interface on every Robot will be touchscreen enabled to suit the behavioral characteristic of the targeted user. ( young adult of developed country)
5. Network between Robots and a Central Hub should be setup to enable a smooth flow of communication and for controls during the exhibition.

 

Similar Project :

Although it will be really hard to do so, but I aimed to complete a project of this standard but the task which my robot will do is much simpler.

Moodboard:

Computational System Research:

There were many considerations made for this aspect of the project, firstly, the Cost and Value Analysis of the system must be made, of course, if money isn’t a problem, then this part would be really easy as I will just get the suitable parts which I need for the FYP, but sadly that isn’t the case… Money is a problem in FYP.

So, how can I maximize the output of my project by using the minimum amount of money? I have to also consider about how strong/fast the system is, and how would I like to have the user interface (touch screen) to be incorporated into the system.

These are the types of computation system which might be possible for my project at reasonable price –

Raspberry Pi 3 –

This is the latest Raspberry Pi 3. It features a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU with 802.11n Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1. Like Raspberry Pi 2, it also has 1GB RAM,4 USB ports,40 GPIO pins,Full HDMI port and Ethernet port. This third generation Pi is an excellent tool for hackers, makers and educators because of its small footprint, low power consumption, and low price.

Pi 3 comes with build in WIFI system so that would save me about $30 for WIFI module, output of screen is easy to setup(like a normal computer), runs on Linux system, which I have a slight experience on and as a bonus, I own one of this so that would save me some money too.

Latte Panda –

A LattePanda is a complete Windows 10 single board computer. It has everything a regular PC has and can do anything that a regular PC does. It is compatible with almost every gadget likw printers, joysticks, cameras and more. Any peripherals that work on PC will work on a LattePanda.

In terms of processing strength, completely overpowered Raspberry Pi 3, the price is however much steeper than Pi 3, also as an added bonus, I already own a Lattepanda and I would rather work on Lattepanda over Raspberry Pi as it runs on Windows system and that would save a huge amount of time for me, plus overall it is much faster at processing video and even runs Max MSP(a programming software)  which is what I will probably be using. I am sure Latte Panda will be more responsive than Raspberry Pi 3 at the cost of more $$.

Cheap Desktop CPU –

Yes, I praised so much about Lattepanda, but the cheap CPU nowadays is already cheaper than a LattePanda, although bigger,heavier and more power hungry, it is way cheaper than a Lattepanda at relatively same processing power and also, a cheap CPU usually comes with Internal HDD(atleast 128GB) while Lattepanda only has a mere 64GB(minus operating system installed, leaving about 40GB). Best part, Desktop CPU comes with built-in cooling fan, which overheating is a problem for Lattepanda.

*REFURBISH is the word here hence the cheap price*
since I don’t really need a brand new computer to get the job done. This is the normal sized CPU, which is rather big but I am sure it is small enough to be build into a robot.

Second handed/refurb touchscreen laptop –

For me, I think that this is the best system i could think of for now which I will need, firstly, touchscreen laptop meant that I do not need to purchase another separate touchscreen(which is usually really expensive) secondly, it comes with all the benefit of a CPU like cooling fan and such, also, laptop have a additional battery which reduce the load of the power supply, like if the main power supply ran out, there will still be time for the system to send out notification to the control system which then battery could be replaced. lastly, laptop will be slightly lighter and uses lesser power in comparison to a CPU, which make it really good over a normal CPU.

These are really good deal I think, I have been also browsing on carousell to find cheap and well condition touchscreen laptops, will update when I found some.

By having a computer doesn’t meant that this project will work, of course, what I am going to do on the computer is all that matter.

Since I don’t have sufficient knowledge in programming for windows system or app, so I also looked up for some online courses which I think I may follow during the holiday.

https://www.udemy.com/the-complete-windows-10-c-course-and-build-2-apps/
This will be useful for my own personal knowledge as well as for this FYP, courses are from Udemy and they usually have offer on their courses, I could just wait for the $5.99 or $9.99 sale.

https://www.udemy.com/windows-iot/
since there will be network communication between the robots, this might be really useful for me.

https://www.udemy.com/the-complete-design-course/
another way to work around is to design an mobile app and bridge it between the computer with a tablet that will be used as the screen or simply just built an app which is fully functional within the tablet itself. I still have to do further researches about this.

 

Power supply Researches

Off the shelf high capacity powerbank:

Car battery:

If I were to use a car battery, I would get the deep cycle/marine battery as it is made for continuous discharge when connected to my computer within the robot/motors.

DIY battery from car battery: