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 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.