Weekly Update: Week 4

It was another productive week which is great news. First I'm going to talk about what tweaks we made to our project, including some decisions we made on the design. Then I'll cover the progress made over the past few days.

Design & Parts:
     During our last lab meeting we had a decision to make. We could either make our own board that would control the voltage to the RC motor or order a Arduino Motor Shield. We decided to go with the latter. The cost difference was only $10 while the potential for problems further down the road were much higher. We ordered the Arduino Motor Shield and it finally came in the mail this week.

 
    Another question we needed to answer was how we were going to power the board, sensor, and motor. After some research we decided to power the components using a 9V battery. In order to do so we needed to order a cable that would allow us to connect the battery to the Arduino. This also came in the mail this week.

     We also bought a small valve tubing to help connect the tubing to the bladder.

     Even with all this progress, there are some design problems still left to solve. One of them was how would we rotate the canister with the balloon. We think we've come up with a solution that should keep the design aspect simple and clean. I'll add another update when we visit the machine shop in a few days.

Weekly Progress:
    Over the past week we've made some progress. We got the Arduino to control the motor. We played around with how the motor is controlled by the Arduino and familiarized ourselves with how it works.

     We also collected data from the accelerometer to see how its effected by movement. All these data points will be used to help the algorithm know when to deploy the bladder. It was just data collection of the accelerometer when its in different positions.

     The final part we worked on was getting the motor to turn when the accelerometer went through certain shocks. We were able to get the motor to turn which was great news. It means that we will be able to release the CO2 from the canister using data readings from the accelerometer.

Future:
     We still need to make some progress on getting the different components to work independently first. We should start integration of the parts in a couple weeks. Our next hurdle is to get the motor to turn the CO2 canister.

Quick Update: Accelerometer Issues

We've run into a problem a few days ago with the data from the accelerometer. It seemed as if the data was corrupted. We previously had tried numerous codes, ones we had done and ones from online resources. The data coming in was always looping between a certain set of numbers. Tilting or moving the accelerometer would not effect the values. We did not know what the problem was so we creased working for the weekend. That was a few days ago. We picked up working on the issue today after a few busy days of coursework. During our previous attempt we could not figure out why the accelerometer data was corrupted. So dedicated part of our time today on trying to figure it out. After numerous attempts of new code, new wiring setup, and readjusting where the ribbon was cut we were unsuccessful in our attempts to solve the problem. Our conclusion is that the accelerometer seems to be damaged in some way and this is not allowing us to continue to work on that end of the project. Our next step to get hold of a new accelerometer and then get back on track.

Weekly Update- It's Been Too Long

A lot has gone on this past week since our last update. This week was spent on the completion of the mechanical as well as electrical design. On Thursday (4/10), the accelerometer got hooked up to the Arduino and had outputted live data. We have also started coding in order for the Arduino to read data from the accelerometer. The mechanical design was finalized that Saturday (4/13). Most of the material and equipment needed was obtained as well such as CO2 cartridges, 1/4" tubing, breadboard, tube coupler, and ideal tube fastener. These parts were partially assembled. Coding for recognizing free fall as well as sudden change in acceleration started Sunday (4/14). But it didn’t go as smoothly as we wanted it to. After about a few hours, the accelerometer’s output data became corrupted. We were bound to encounter technical difficulties during this process.

Today we started the implementation of LEDs to help detect accelerometer data. The design part which twists the valve from the motor was also drawn in CAD.

Here are some photos of this week’s progress.

This past week we've been spending some time thinking on how we would do the mechanical design. It's a little harder than you would think. To release the CO2 canister we need to twist it. So far we've figured out that the Arduino can control a motor (DC or step) and that there has to be a way to twist the CO2 canister through a motor. Here is a picture of what we came up with after some discussion. It looks pretty simple and we're already thinking of improving it.

Smart Suit

Om Mahida's photostream on Flickr.

A Collection of Photos from the Smart Suit Project

Intro to the Smart Suit

 This is the presentation given to Dr.Swoboda on
Problem:

• Big wave surfers struggle to return the surface after a wipeout.
• Example:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2473_VuXEfw#t=65s
• Commercial fishermen often fall off their boats in stormy seas.
• Coast Guard rescue swimmers often do not wear life vests as they are difficult to swim in.

Solution:

• Inflatable bladder incorporated into the wetsuit allows users to surface faster
• Sensor records data such as acceleration
• Device will process data and recognize emergency situation based on data

Spec Overview:

• Inflatable Bladder System (I.B.S.)
• Accelerometer
• Arduino

 Inflatable Bladder System (I.B.S.)

• CO2 canister inflates I.B.S.
• I.B.S. will activate upon extreme change in sensor readings
• Self-deployable

 Accelerometer

• Records extreme changes in acceleration 

Arduino:

• Information from sensor(s) can trigger I.B.S. during emergency situations 

Advantages:

• Life saving capabilities
• Recreational & professional use
• Freedom of movement vs. traditional life vests