WarmUp Boot Logs

Week 1 (1/23-1/30)

After forming our team and consolidating our skill sets, we decided that we want to take our project to have a core of hardware/building, with minimal coding. Originally we were heading towards the path of a robot performing a simple task, but in the end we chose to build something that us three can be passionate about: a ski boot warmer powered by a solar panel.

Week 2 (1/30-2/5)

• Focused on breaking down our budget to be as specific as possible
• Met with our TA, Nathan Schmetter, about the logistics of our project.
  • Brought up two types of heaters: (1) resistor-based (2) Peltier device heater
  • Incorporate an Arduino to develop the temperature threshold system (allowing user to control temperature)
  • Preliminary challenge identification
  • Talked about how we plan on presenting our project at the demo
• Wrote up our project proposal, including the Gantt Chart

Week 3 (2/6-2/12)

• Met with Nathan to go over our proposal
  • Then waited for Humberto's comments
• Amended our project proposal to address the flaws highlighted in our feedback, which included:
  • Lack of detail in describing the user interface
  • Omitting our beloved Nathan from our team members section
  • Omitting general safety from our challenges
  • Failing to reference the circuit tutorials we will be following to use Arduino to both heat up and adjust the temperature of the heating pads
• We also made a huge pivot in our project in eliminating the solar panel component
  • This will remove the need of a UV light to demo
  • Also will free up a bunch of our budget (skis on craigslist went for about $30, a good fifth of the budget)
  • Will allow us to devote more time and effort to an already complicated system, the interface-heating pad system.
• Amended our budget accordingly
  • Included 9V battery adapter and wall power source
  • Added a solderable breadboard
  • Added potentiometers for the buttons
  • Added Gorilla Epoxy to help for ensuring a waterproof seal
• We were having trouble deciding on the battery, but we are going to go ahead with Nathan's suggestion and simply, during the testing phase, use 9V batteries

Week 4 (2/13-2/20)

This week was mainly devoted to gathering all our supplies, since we were recently approved to move forward with our project and start building.  Some of our materials have arrived and some parts we are still waiting on in the mail.  In addition to ordering all the parts, we have been taking some time to get comfortable with using the Arduino, a piece of technology that not all of us are completely familiar with.  We look forward to having all of our parts arrive in the next few days so we can begin our work constructing our heated ski boot

Week 5 (2/20-2/27)

• This week, we began to model our encasing for the battery and user interface using CAD diagrams on Solid Works
• We need find ways to integrate our encasing into a model of the actual boot
• We found and purchased an old simple pair of ski
• We began taking measurements on the boot to plan our user interface and battery case

Week 6 (2/27-3/3)

Our materials began to arrive this week and we began to model our circuit. First, using our LEDs, wires, and resistors we began to learn how to use Arduino by making a stop light. Once we finished that mini project, we began to model our circuit for the WarmUp Boot using Fritzing. We filled out the entire breadboard on Fritzing. The week concluded with our first evaluation with Humberto. He was happy with our progress so far but gave us much need guidance on what we need to do next. Specifically, we have much work to do with modeling the integration of the interface and battery on our boot. Humberto advised us to 3-D scan sections of the boot where we aim to mount. Fortunately, we have two boots so we can use for strictly for modeling. For the next step with the circuit, we aim to create a circuit that connects our heating pads and heating sensor.

Week 7 (3/3-3/10)

This week, we devoted our time to creating a better model for the boot so that our interface, arduino/breadboard housing, and battery pack will fit seamlessly into the exterior of the boot

This week we

• Disassembled one of our ski boots and selected optimal parts for mounting battery, interface, and housing
• Determined that housing for the arduino will be placed underneath battery on the back of the ski boot
• Determined that the interface will be placed on the front of the ski boot (front of the ankle)
• We are in the process of scanning specific parts of the boot where we plan to mount

In terms of group assignments and dynamic we have a clear path moving forward for the weeks leading up to the 2nd evaluation

• Jackson is well versed in CAD so his tasks will include designing the interface and housing on CAD and 3-D printing
• Jackson is also in charge of scanning the boot and integrating the boot scan into the interface and housing

• Daniel and Allen will be working on the circuit
• Specific tasks include:
• Writing code that enables the heating pad to run in accordance with the readings from the heat sensor (incorporate diode)
• Connecting the potentiometers to our heating pad in the circuit to give the user control of the warmth of heating pad
• Connecting LEDs to the potentiometers so that the user can see how much power they have applied to the heating pad
• Replicating the potentiometer->heating pad <->heat sensor system because we aim to have two heating pads in the boot

Once the circuit is complete and our housing has been printed, we will all work on transferring the circuit to the boot. Tasks will include:

• Optimally attaching the interface housing to the front(ankle portion) of the boot
• Assembling the housing for the arduino, bread board, and battery pack
• Optimally attaching the battery and arduino housing to the back of the boot (important that we still allow user to tighten the boot as if nothing were there)
• Finding the most effect wiring paths from the arduino, potentiometer, heating sensor/heating pad, and battery pack to the bread board in the back of the boot
• Soldering the wires into the bread board
• Using our gorilla epoxy to weather proof and secure all wires along the internal skeleton of the boot so that our entire circuit does not become altered while the ski boot is in use

After the 2nd evaluation, we will specifically divide these tasks among our group

Week 8 (3/10-3/17)

Spring Break

Week 9 (3/17-3/24)

This week was a big one for the coding portion of the project. With help from Nathan and various examples pulled from outside, Allen and Daniel were able to incorporate the button into the system, which then turns on the TMP102 sensor. In order to make the coding a bit easier for us, especially given our relatively little experience with coding, and especially with Arduino, they decided to split it up into four main components: (1) Button turns on the heating pad system (2) Potentiometer, along with the MOFSET, feeds variable current, through a diode, into the heating pad (3) TMP102 continuously monitors the heating pad, with alerts in place to turn off the current once the pad reaches a certain temperature (this will need to be tested with, as the pads heat up quite quickly in a short span of time) (4) Button turns the heating pad system off. Parts 1 and 3 is where the majority of the progress has taken place, but work still needs to be done on the other components. Our goal is to have the code, or at least a very good working of it, ready for our evaluation with Humberto next week.