Goals for the Past Week

• Gain knowledge of servo and weight sensor operation (Both).
  • We both now have a fairly good understanding of how the servo and weight sensors operate. The servo is controlled with a PWM and the weight sensor acts a force sensitive resistor.
• Build preliminary touch UI (Tom).
  • A preliminary UI has been built. It currently contains the main screens that can be navigated using the touch screen.
• Draw a detailed schematic of our system (Jeremy).
  • Drawing the schematic has been put on hold until we have a better idea of what the final system will include.
• Determine and order any remaining parts (Both).
  • Weight sensors were ordered and have been received. We purchased food and water bowls, reserves for the food and water, and tubing. We now have all of the parts we will need to complete our design.
• Continue flow valve and sensor integration (Both).
  • We have been able to figure out how the flow valve and sensor operate and will be able to start integrating them into final design.
• Gained knowledge of operation for the LM317 voltage regulator and logic level converter.
  • We have been able to figure out how the voltage regulator and logic level converter operate and will be able to start integrating them into final design.

Goals Achieved This Week

• Continued building UI (Tom).
  • Continued work on the UI. In addition to the main screens being built we are now able to set the time at which food and water dispensing will occur.
• Built support structure (Tom).
  • Built the wooden support structure that will be used to mount the reserves for the food and water. Food and water bowls will be underneath reserves with tubing to dispense the food and water.
• Implemented voltage regulator and logic level converter (Jeremy).
  • Voltage regulator and logic level converter are being used to step down 9V to 5V and 3.3V. This is being done because the flow valve and sensor requires 9V, the servo requires 5V and the PIC is powered by 3.3V.
• Began soldering (Jeremy).
  • Resistors used for voltage regulators are being soldered to board so we will have more room on the breadboard.
• Began force sensor operation (Jeremy).

Current Challenges

• Designing and building food dispensing system. We know we are going to use the servo but we have not yet finalized our design.
• Figuring out how to use the real time clock on the PIC.
• Figuring out how to install tubing from funnels to dispense food and water. Flow sensor and valve need to be installed for water.
• Accurately monitoring force sensor voltage output with PIC.

Plans for the Upcoming Week

• Finish UI (Tom).
• Implement backend code to control servo, weight sensors, and flow valve and sensor (Jeremy).
• Begin working on code using real time clock (Tom).
• Finish building physical structure. We currently have the supports structure but we need to mount food and water reserves, add tubing for dispensing, mount flow sensor and valve, and add food/water bowls with installed weight sensors (Both).