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Day 20

Feedback from Tom Chi & Lucille Wilson Whitaker


Lucille Withaker and Tom Chi giving MakerBay Electric Vehicle Lab feedback

Lucille Withaker and Tom Chi giving MakerBay Electric Vehicle Lab feedback

Lucille Withaker and Tom Chi giving MakerBay Electric Vehicle Lab feedback

Notes on Google Hangouts Call: 

Expectations
Flora: Collision avoidance
Mason: Flexible, customer can customise the car. 
Camera, rearview mirror, HMD, Assisted driving, autonomous driving

Mechanics 
Get into the car, create some space so it is safe to move around 
Don’t drag it more than 5 miles an hour Electric check the range of sensors and what affect the sensors 

Software 
General receive / send signals How do you connect to a higher level software 
Are you going to see enough sensor input to make a decision? Are you going to interpret enough 
UX: Start from video game driving interface 
Lucille: Enjoying the ride, customisable experience, Massage chair senses your back. What you are doing in the car? MASSAGE CAR !!!!! 

Going to the spa Voice is very important: I want to hear the news. I want to have a voice command, change directions. 
Eco-friendly memory foam, soft fleece inside, soft materials Nicest experience inside of the car. 
What’s the softest material Fresh air, cool, filters that clean air inside the car, healthy experience 

Concept about the car to drive itself Best possible ride Sensors: Seek for external advice Rob competition: it’s closed until after the competition. 
Inside : bean bags 
Organic materials, stuffed with buckwheat (no off-gazing) Hot and cool massage LED 
Careful the heat You can cool it Little oven Car Arduino Python LIDAR was expensive, reflecting back in the rain 30m with LIDAR, ok if you drive slowly 

>> Entertainment? >> 

What is the best format to share our documentation?

Additional suggestions from Lucille 

Air quality (inside and outside too?)
 We use kind of things to clean the air in our homes and they use  UV-C bulbs to clean the air inside (I wonder if these lights would work to also help remove pollution from the air around the outside of the car too?? Then it would be the ultimate eco-friendly car:


Comfortable Seats
I like this eco friendly memory foam: http://www.myessentia.com/company/ is there a way to partner with them or a company like them to develop the softest, healthiest seats for your car?

Comfortable Seats Cont
For a relaxing and sensational ride I like the idea of offering customizable massage chairs or massage options inside the car that include full body massage plus heating and cooling & even hand, arm, foot and leg massage. Here is an example of the options: 
http://www.brookstone.com/massage?bkiid=global|topnav|massage|massage

Modern Interior Car Fabric
I wonder if you could use fabric like this company Patagonia uses: http://www.patagonia.com/materials-tech.html ...especially like the one made from recycled water bottles!

Voice Recognition and Sounds
I think this one speaks for itself :) Although I would add that it may be cool to have a "meditation sounds" option like nature sounds (ocean waves or something relaxing like that) so that the ride is really relaxing. I believe that the idea of self-driving cars is for them to take away the "stress" of driving and adding a guided meditation feature may help achieve this goal...Also adding http://www.pandora.com/ may be a fun feature and a cool collaboration for the app. dev. too :)


Setting Milestones


Design 
- finalize design of exterior shell
- finish interior model
- build

Mechanical
- mounting steering pot
- making flooring (aluminum/ pallet wood)
- battery mounting (slide in from the side, underneath the beam/floor of the car - for QFE batteries)
- design mounting plate for brakes and stepper

Electrical
- troubleshooting RF module
- speed control (wiring, communication protocol)
- fixing data transmission of sensors 
- testing of wireless charger 

Software 
- slider for UI
- use video game driver interface
- integrate with Arduino via Bluetooth 
- develop hardware RF joystick for alternative control

Mechanics - Mounting


Design - Modeling of Outer Shell


Electronics - Testing


Update: speed control with servo and linear pot

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