Engineering, prototyping, components…

By Sara Baracchini March 16, 2016 Edition CHIC 2015-2016Discover Aimo project

In parallel with mechanics, our engineering team is also working on the development of the firmware and electronics, as we want to have a working prototype by the end of March.

For prototyping, we used an Arduino development board. At the moment, we interfaced a Bluetooth module with the microcontroller using several example codes. Our software guy, Jonathan (but we call him Link inside the team, just so you know) started writing the iOS application for our product.

We wanted to order the Bluetooth module that is provided by Adafruit, but unfortunately the shipping would have cost 6 times the amount of the module. Therefore, we decided to buy it from Romania and bring it here in Lausanne by a bus carrying people between Geneva and Bucharest. The same way, we ordered a mailbox (which cost only 5 CHF) because we thought it would be nice to disassembly it and get an idea of the dimensions/space for our product.

As you can see, we are a very inventive team and we find quick solutions to solve our needs. This weekend, we plan to finish the prototyping with the rest of the components we ordered, this time from China (the stepper motor, the sensors for detecting if the door is closed or not and the force sensor for detecting if the button was pushed or not).

The next steps would be to start doing the PCB board that will be incorporated with the mechanics. In this direction, we will use Altium Designer, as both Sorina and Alexis are proficient with it. We can’t wait to see AIMO working!