The team chose Prof. Julie Heynssens as both the technical advisor and the client. The team invited her to all presentations and look to her for guidance on technical problems
The team purchased components that were based on the requirements of the project in December, 2016 and started soldering and testing each component on its own before Integrating them together for further sub-testings. Those components were:
Adafruit 9-DOF Absolute Orientation IMU - BNO055, a gyroscope that is compatible with the software requirements like the Arduino.
Two bluetooth 4.0 sensors were purchased. One will be on the marker and the other bluetooth sensor will be attached on the hub to receive data and orientation of the gyroscope that is attached on the marker.
Two pairs of Panasonic CR2032 Lithium 3 Volt batteries were purchased to power up the bluetooth sensor on the whiteboard marker.
A used optical mouse is found to give precise orientation of the whiteboard marker in a 2D plane, and in conjunction with the gyroscope, it will give more accurate data of the current position of the whiteboard marker.
An Arduino Uno was provided by one of the team members in order to program the software through it using Javascript commands instead of the Arduino’s.
The team used Electron as the main software to program through, and multiple libraries were used such as Fabric and Johnny-Five, along with Browserify framework in order to add additional libraries under one setting to program more freely and have more options that will make the software easy to use.
Arduio Uno: Arduino Uno was used to establish the main hub to house the other components for the project. It serves as the center nerve of receiving data and sending data in conjunction with the gyroscope and the optical mouse through the bluetooth sensors.
Soldering Gun (Room 236): The soldering gun that is provided in the Engineering building was used to solder the components such as Bluetooth sensors, and gyroscope pins on the breadboard.
Multimeter: A Multimeter was used to test the connectivity of the circuits on the breadboard and to see if there are voltages passing through the pins of the components.
Cline Library 3D Services: The services of Cline Library 3D printing were used after finalizing the SolidWorks design provided by one of the team members in order for them to print the final case design for the project. The final cost was $30.18.
SolidWorks: SolidWorks is a software for mechanical engineers that is required for the students to learn the software in order to design physical shapes such as gears and rotary shapes. It was used to design the main house for the electrical components by one of the team members.
Arduino Software: The Arduino software was used and modified to program the software part using Javascript language instead of C language of the Arduino’s. In that matter, it will help facilitate the program that is run by the Electron app since both will be programmed using JavaScript.
Electron App: Electron was used as the main application to program the writing/erasing part of the whiteboard marker software, it will be the main software function after the Arduino software.
Fabric and Johnny-Five: Both of these libraries were used for additional commands in order to program with ease on the Electron App.
Browserify: This framework is used to include more than one library, such as combining Fabric and Johnny-five together in Electron in order to use multiple libraries since Electron only allows for one library.