WORSE THAN A HEATER
The topic of our deliverables for the eighth week of the internship—the third of four weeks in the prototype stage of the engineering design process was discussed during our first group meeting of the week. The following assignments were then given to me by the group: Training kit (Power supply and Lighting system), Vein Finder (Dimensions and Layout), and Neonatal Monitor (Temperature sensor probes). I started designing the printed circuit board (PCB) for attaching the DLP projector to the Raspberry Pi in the late afternoon using the KiCAD program. Additionally, I was experimenting with the power of the infrared LED light that was required for the lighting system of the vein finder
We calculated how much light would be required to illuminate the kit's interior the following morning when I was working on the project's lighting setup for the laparoscopic training kit. In the afternoon, we tested the Vein Finder to check if the light intensity we came up with was enough to see the veins, but we found that it only worked on some people. The Neonatal Monitor's design decisions then took the majority of our time. According to the advise we received, we should construct a device that conforms with the design standards we established for the Neonatal Monitor and build a casing that is equivalent to the Display LED used on the monitor.
On Wednesday morning we started working on a vein finder case with a laser cutter that wasn't operating right, but we managed to make one. Additionally, we produced a few components for the laparoscopic training kit case. In the afternoon, we gave group presentations in front of Mr. Hillary Lodzanyama, Mr. Will Moyo, and both of our TAs. They advise working on integrating all the relevant components for all three of our projects because we only have one week remaining in the prototyping phase. Then we were told to let them know about the supplies that will be delivered the following day, and we proposed devising a power source for the neonatal incubator, the laparoscopic training kit, and the vein finder.
We started working on the configuration of the Vein Finder's lighting system, the power system of the Laparoscopic Training Kit, and the Vein Finder's power system on Thursday morning. However, we were able to finish the work on the Vein Finder's power system and the Vein Finder's lighting system configuration. We presented the deliverables we had proposed the day before in front of our TAs during the group individual presentation, and they gave us the go-ahead to ensure that those deliverables were finished by Thursday and to start working on the deliverables for the upcoming week as soon as possible on Tuesday.
On Friday, we covered Module 05: Value Creation for Customers as part of our ongoing study of the StartMeUp Program. By the end of the module, I was able to identify the distinctiveness of the company, identify the types of clients it must service, identify its rivals, and estimate the size of the market I am willing to serve.
We collectively failed to move all of our projects from low fidelity to medium quality prototype this week, which resulted in setbacks on all of them. We planned to meet up on the weekends to catch up on the internship's schedule as a consequence.
As we complete prototyping, see you next week.