Author: Yip Wan Ting

Continued

Yip Wan Ting Brainstroming, Shopping 0 Comment

Apparently, there were some miscommunications. The guys expected a larger diameter of the pipe, and Tony, well let’s just say Tony didn’t expect us to purchase the pipe at all. In the moment, it was a sense of helplessness and frustration.

Tony was confused as to the mechanics of our boat. That session, we learnt what the PVC pipes were for: stability. One on each side, not on all 4 sides due to the unstable nature of the box. The PVC pipes were meant to be used to prevent capsize, if the pipes were longer than the box. Putting PVC pipes as a lifebuoy would not help with stability at all. 

Moreover, the box we purchased was too buoyant. The high volume ratio meant that little water would be displaced when put into a pool, something we greatly overlooked. We only considered buoyancy, and having made rough calculations, we decided to play super safe in getting a large box such that it would be able to float. While we thought we had settled the issue of not floating; we failed to consider the other extreme: too much floating! 

“Then how?”

Anita took it all in stride. “No blaming. We are a team.” She was a role model and her moving forward mindset carried the disheartened us forward. We gathered together and discussed the next steps. What if we bought a smaller box? What if we used a swimming board? Can we get ideas from other boats? How about that previous project on the ‘Underwater Drone’?

It felt like we were back to the drawing board; like we took a sprint forward, but only to realize we had to go back to the starting line. But as Zheng Xun rightfully pointed out, “we are better now than we once was, nothing was wasted.” It was all part of learning, you win some, you lose some. 

And though it was not the ideal experience, it was a fruitful and lesson filled one. We came together as a team,  instead of falling apart. We took into account a lot of other considerations: first buoyancy, now stability, and then in the later part, mobility. It wasn’t easy, but we sat ourselves down and came up with many drafts and drew many rafts (yes I am a poet now)… 

Sketches and Workings

After discussing for an hour, we came up with a second draft and presented it to Tony. Anita our spokesperson made the meeting light hearted albeit the initial downcast atmosphere.

Though he was rushing home, he stayed back to help us figure out a compromise and how to move forward from here. 

Armed with a way forward, we were slightly more optimistic and had a better direction on how to proceed for the next meeting! 

Yet another long and tiring day, that paved way for the next.

Make-shift lifebuoy

Yip Wan Ting Shopping, Tinkering 0 Comment

“I tell you so many [university] students come to me before one… I tell you what to do…” -Boss of Bes-Gro Enterprise PTE LTD

Anita and I agreed to meet at IMM. But I was running late, so Anita had kindly already gone to purchase the 55L container from Giant by the time I arrived. Carrying the bulky box from IMM to the next bus stop under the hot sun got us drenched in perspirations by the time we arrived at the next stop: Bes-Gro Enterprise PTE LTD

  

the place was definitely any engineer’s dream, it had all possible tinkering supplies — from industrial scale torchlights and spades, PVC pipes and wires… and a buzz of truck drivers littered around the perimeter getting their pre-purchased goods. Everyone knew what they were doing there, they came with a mission and purpose — and honestly, so did we, but we still stood out like tourists in a sea of locals. 

Sunlight filtered through the clouds, and it was all very idealistic and dreamy — until the reality of not really knowing enough engineering mechanics hit us. What to tell the person at the counter?

We didn’t have to grab his attention, because it was only a good 10seconds of hesitation before “Ah girl ah, what you want?” prompted us to speak. 

Showing him the containers and describing the essence of our project as comprehensively as possible, he proceeded to prompt us further. Where will the pipes be? What are the pipes for? How are we planning to attach the pipes? What is the design like? 

Bombarded and at a loss, we showed him the image of our model and the blueprints. 

“Something like this-“

He ponders, and proceeds to reply:

“I tell you what; you do like that.”

The uncle whips out a pen and draws something similar to this design; describing how the PVC pipe will float if connected like a lifebuoy. 

And thinking this is a great solution as well, we bought it. The idea, and the materials. He gives us 2m worth of PVC pipes, 4 elbow connectors and PVC Brian Glue to stick the PVC pipes together.

The following scene spelt an incoming problem: 2 short and blur students stranded in the middle of nowhere — ie. Jurong Industrial Centre — with a 2m long PVC pipe, a maze of large container trucks and previously struggling to handle 55L containers on the bus led us to one logical conclusion: Private Hire. (update: thankfully, Dr Ho was kind enough to allow us to claim the money from the transport back)

With that, our next destination was NTU; where the guys were busy cracking their heads coding and discussing software matters, familiarizing themselves with Blue Iris and the RPi module.

To be continued. 

 

 

 

gathering of the multitude

Yip Wan Ting Tinkering 0 Comment

Today we had a short catch up with Dr Ho on the status of our project, before getting down to business. We showed him our gantt diagram, and our current progress — slow but steady.

Unabashedly admitted to be currently struggling with RPi given the steep learning curve… Dr Ho kindly pointed out that we aren’t alone in this struggle, and the potential to collaborate with many other teams! We described the brief idea of the boat design, and given the lack of materials yet, there was little to troubleshoot… yet. With that, Dr Ho left us in an optimistic place to continue working on the blueprints of our project.

We then continued a short discussion to officially divide the roles among our team into 2 segments, one for the software and the other for the hardware.

While Jing Rui and Zheng Xun stayed in the lab to continue figuring out the software part, Anita and I started searching for components to assemble the boat. Tomorrow, we will be heading down to the suppliers to physically get the items, including the tupperware and PVC pipes. If only we could get a ride from NTU…

Meanwhile, the guys toggled with the RPi and managed to code with it, getting the hang of the code editor! They were able to hook up some LEDs and wrote a simple Puthon programme using the Pi’s code editor (otherwise known as an IDE)

Tinkering with RPi (short vlog!)

The mentors on patrol were also able to advise us on how to set up a webpage to control the pumps, and encouraged us to pick up html, css and flask — we’re officially on our way to becoming computer science engineers now! 

Additionally, we learned how to identify the components of RPi — or rather more specifically, the pins on RPi. Who knew that electrical components had a gender too?  

Identification of RPi parts

The day ends on a high note with excitement for tomorrow and our ‘shopping spree’!

Singing

Yip Wan Ting Tinkering 0 Comment

“Oh my gosh, its the Raspberry Pi! Its singing!”

Our official Amcrest cameras arrived! another round of warranties to fill… 

After measuring, we were finally able to get better estimates of the camera and thus, finally buy domes with smaller dimensions so that our boat can be more compact.

Acrylic Dome Potential Source 1

TaoBao was a new ground for us to navigate, but thankfully with the help of Justin and Kevin, we were able to find something… 

Acrylic Dome Potential Source 2

We also came up with another design under the guidance of another mentor…

This time, we might have to actually 3D print a case for the cables of the camera, which is going to be an exciting challenge for us! 

Today, Jing Rui and Zheng Xun were also able to get the RPi to play music! That was the peak of our excitement! 

Tomorrow, we will be meeting again, and presenting a brief outline and update to Dr Ho… 

Infrared and Raspberry Pi

Yip Wan Ting Tinkering 0 Comment

#nightvision

Our Raspberry Pi module arrived! After assembling and and screwing parts in, the little computer was booted up and running! The next thing we need to do is to control the potential water jets through the Pi system. 

 

Then, we activated the SIM card and also learnt about Singapore’s tourist attractions — and that Lau Pa Sat is pronounced with emphasis on the ‘a’ in Sat such that it sounds more like 老芭莎 instead of ‘sat’ like past tense of ‘sit’.

After toggling a lot more with Blue Iris, we finally figured out how to activate and access the night vision on the Amcrest camera! Testing by putting it in the bag, we obtained black and white footages! One step down, and it was a euphoric rare feeling of productivity. 

We also started to think about waterproofing and designing the boat in better detail. Taking inspiration from catamaran and PVC boats, we came up with 2 tentative designs:

Image of our sketches

Image of a Catamaran boat

Image of PVC pipe boat modelled after the Catamaran

We also crafted a more detailed outline of our project and split the agenda into software and hardware for better organization. If curious, here is our Timetable and Agenda Document! 

Previously, Zheng Xun was able to get a massive storage box, and so this time we had a home for all our gadgets. 

Snug underneath the cabinets in the MnT lab, we left with a group photo with Tony, and called it a day.

group photo

Blue iris and Red eyes

Yip Wan Ting Tinkering 0 Comment

Blue Iris Software Website

#firstphysicalmeeting 

Our items arrived and it was a mad hustle to figure out how technology works. In the words of one of the mentors: “they think that technology is this magic black box where everything just works”. It was a tough learning curve to combat in terms of troubleshooting and remembering passwords for different logins, but under the patient guidance and constant sarcastic remarks, we were finally able to make the camera function and play around with the mechanics. 

That day, we learnt so much more about the magic black box: from what IP addresses were, to how routers and LAN cables function in the big scheme of things… and how to safely reach the LAN connection…  it sill remains a mystery as to why the ports are near the ceiling.

Image of our workspace

Items found in the box containing Blue Iris

We also started measuring our components and weighing them; in preparation for the mathematics needed in getting the dimensions of the body of the boat, a transparent dome, and calculating buoyancy…

Image of our measurements

Additionally, we were able to have a meeting with Dr John Heng from MAE over MS teams and he gave us a clearer insight into how to go about problem design and solution, and offered guidance with how to go about with the project.

In short, it was a long day of staring at screens to figuring out Blue Iris software, labelling cables and packages, weighing all our items and keying in barcodes for warranty…

and we all went home with red eyes and a longing for the bed in the comfort of our homes… 

 

the Destroyer from the Navy

Yip Wan Ting Blueprinting 0 Comment

#militarygrade

After a lot more googling, we found that most boats have a pointed front, with propellers underneath. And that was a simple but functional design that was very suited to what we need it to do! 

 

As for movement, we remained undecided and figured we could do with either paddles or water jets. Under the advice of Tony, we went with water jets, controlled with the Raspberry Pi. The design was to have 4 jets, one in each direction of NSEW, so that we could have easier control of direction.

We had 2 ideas, and trying to minimise materials and cost, we went with the second design (bottom)

Finally knowing the outlook of the boat and the materials we would need, it was time to start sourcing for these items! 

Due to the pandemic, shopping together was not advisable and online shopping was a new skill for most of us. The pandemic also caused a delay in shipping, and the items took a while to arrive. Thankfully, our finance manager Jing Rui was able to get everything we needed in time and soon enough, we could start assembling our items! Of course, that settled the issue of procuring hardware, our next challenge was to figure out how the hardware would create the software…  

 

the hamster ball

Yip Wan Ting Blueprinting 0 Comment

First seen on a computer screen in the MnT lab, we were inspired by the ‘Rolling Ball’ designed by SUTD; the concept of movement by this land rover similar to the fictitious BB-8 character in Star Wars.  

and with that, we decided we could model it and do the same thing with our boat! 

We met in a room and discussed for a good 3hours, sitting round a computer and throwing out our best ideas; how it would move in the water, the placement of pedals, the change in direction, the mechanism of how the pedals will move…

and after presenting our ideas to Dr Ho and Tony, we were met with another wave of hard hit realization: boats do not tend to be circular, for the very reason of the need to break symmetry for easier movement and direction control.

its probably not what we googled, but we concluded it was probably an engineering and design thing, since most boats — or infact, rarely any boats are circular. Most boats are streamlined, with a sharp front to slice through the water.

I guess that was the first thing we learnt. While our boat will not be as original, it will at least be functional. Thinking we could be creative with the boat design meant we forgo years of boat engineering that has refined the shape of boats today. While out of the box ideas were innovative and interesting concepts, it neglected a lot of engineering considerations — and for us, it was back to the drawing board again. 

researching

Yip Wan Ting Blueprinting 0 Comment

#gettingexcited 

After finally settling on a project on making a boat that looks like a fish, we were told to get down to the mechanics. The process of brainstorming has left us confused as to whether we were tackling our project correctly — do we start with what we wanted to create, or a problem we wanted to solve? Should we think about our limitations, or should we dream big then scale down?  Frustrated and at a loss, we looked to Dr Ho and Tony, who once again provided us with words of wisdom from a wealth of experience: “you’ll never start at the right place, you just have to start somewhere.” With that; presenting to you our final block diagram, which is probably the 10th refinement. But really, who is counting? 

[Poor resolution there, for a better quality visit our Google Slides document. ]

After mapping out what we knew we needed, it was time to source for the components and figure out the hardware, and how the software was supposed to work with the hardware — not to mention how the software was supposed to work. 

All these considerations were an overwhelming lot, so the following blogs is an attempt to breakdown everything that was happening at once! 

tinking part 2

Yip Wan Ting Brainstroming 0 Comment

“The wonders of life can be done simply.”

Dr Ho was particularly fond of our umbrella idea, but Tony, not so much. Tony was the voice or reason and an advocate for setting realistic goals. After browsing through senior’s past projects and looking through more inspiration, the biologist in us manifested in our ideas to make a machine/robot that can climb trees! 

But that too had a lot of physics and robotics involved. With little background in coding and mechanics, our group settled on something more achievable but equally fun: the pseudo fish. With the hope of being able to get some underwater footage as to what really lies under the pond located at our halls of residence: Crespion Hall. Of course, the bigger problem statement we were solving was with marine ecologists in mind, where human presence is likely to disturb the natural behaviour marine life. So making our underwater camera externally designed like a fish could hopefully provide a solution.

The next step was to figure out how we were going to design this.