Hi everyone! We got to work a lot on prototyping this week, and it’s been great to see our designs come to life in a more polished iteration than our low-fidelity prototypes. We rendered high-fidelity versions in Fusion 360, created Adobe Illustrator files with their proper dimensions, laser cut the files, and assembled them. We decided to create two medium-fidelity prototypes, which we scaled down to a fourth of their size, and one full-size sanitizing compartment to model our open circuit with LEDs. We’re using wood and acrylic plastic to create the prototypes, since those materials were most readily available at the OEDK. However, we plan to research alternate materials next week, since wood would likely not be used on a manufacturing scale. I got to stain the wood to a deep brown color outside the OEDK, which helped our prototypes look more polished. 

We also met with Joe Bailey this week to discuss the sanitizing compartment’s circuitry. His insights ultimately led us to create more open charging compartments in the UFO design, to allow for increased accessibility and airflow given the expected heat loss from the AC/DC converters. Today, we met with Jackie and Natalie Moreno, who gave us great feedback on our project pitch. We’ll be sure to incorporate it before practicing and finalizing our presentation. 

Despite the challenges this week presented, it’s been one of my favorite weeks from the internship. I’ve learned a lot of new skills in Fusion360, laser cutting, wood staining, and circuitry, and I’m proud of all the progress our team has made. Next week, we’ll be finalizing our visuals for the showcase, including animations of our Fusion360 renders, as well as our documentation to hand over to Rice360. I can’t wait to see everything come together, and it feels rewarding to be close to the finish line. Until next week for one last blog post!