Weekly Reflection
Here we share our weekly progress and goals.
Week 1: 2/7/25
David Kaswan:
This week I focused on building our product image. Because we had chosen to switch projects to our new idea, Blue Motion, we were starting from scratch and needed to set things clear for the future. First, I developed our decision matrix, finding out what the most optimal solution to our problem was. We ended up in between the floating buoy generator and a pile-attached generator, ultimately deciding on the latter. I also worked on the research this week for our product. I found many reasons for the need for our product, including better cost, and practicality to a renewable energy source. Additionally, I found a competitor that only caters to large cities and their energy grids, further proving the need for a small and easily implemented product, which I showed a chart for.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week my objectives were to both decide on the materials needed for the prototype as well as to create the system diagram chart. Since we had decided to switch projects and I had already built a somewhat working prototype of Blue Motion, the cost form was relatively easy to fill out. However I was challenged by the fact that I needed to improve this prototype, adding features to enrich the product. I ultimately decided to incorporate a microcontroller which would be able to read the output voltages, and based on that, make forecasts of the water conditions. I chose to make the input of the system diagram simply be the waves themselves rather than the microcontroller used to control the simulation of the waves. This way the diagram would focus on the product itself rather than its demonstration. I then included the process which was converting the vertical linear motion of the dock to rotational, and then to electrical energy. Lastly I included the microcontroller in my feedback section to demonstrate how we would gain data on the usage of the device.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, my main focus was creating the basic elements of our website and our social media accounts. In the beginning, I contemplated which type of design the website should have. I looked at other websites for inspiration and decided to make a modern-looking one. After creating my initial design, I faced some difficulties creating the drop-down pages on the menu and making them fit the website design. I watched a tutorial on YouTube and finally got a grasp of how it should be done. For the social media, I chose to use Instagram and Facebook since they are correlated and are easier to work with. I decided to post an image of our website's first outline and a funny meme related to our device. My main goal for the following weeks is to add a 3D model of our device to the website home page, improve the drop-down pages by making them more elegant and simple, and gain more followers on social media.
Lior:
Yonatan:
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First outline of our website
Our previously built working prototype
Week 2: 2/13/25
David Kaswan:
This week I was tasked with creating the surveys for both the target users and the experts, and I also had to make the Gantt chart. I began by conversing with my group to split the roles up, and I put this all in my Gantt chart. I then moved on to creating both surveys. I began by looking online for a baseline of demographic questions that I could use for my own surveys. After that, I created questions for the target users' survey, aiming to create something that could give better feedback on the idea of our product and what the market wants. Finally, I made the questions for the experts survey so that they could better inform us on the theory of how our product would work and its practicality.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I was in charge of ordering the parts as well as complete engineering drawings which included a Tinkercad model, an electrical diagram, the pseudocode and programming flowchart. I had already completed the Tinkercad model previously when I had constructed it so I was only really tasked with the other jobs. I began by designing the pseudocode. I decided the way I would make the code work, was it would read the output voltage and from that, it would estimate what the current water conditions would be. Then I essentially just transferred the finalized and more developed version of this into a programming flowchart which clearly demonstrated the decision making of the program. The only problems I encountered with the development of this simplified code was figuring out how to make it count the frequency of the waves; however, I ultimately made a simple formula. My hardest task this week was creating the electrical diagram. Since I needed to convert the AC voltage output from the dynamo into usable DC, I needed to use a 3 phase bridge rectifier. However, existing rectifiers were all meant for much higher voltages and therefore led to too high a drop in voltage. After countless hours of research I ultimately decided to build my own rectifier from Schottky diodes which was complex. After a long time designing the rest of the circuit on Tinkercad which included a smoothing capacitor, resistor, LED, and Arduino, I ultimately completed the electrical diagram.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, I worked on improving our website, researching business statistics and product history, designing a logo, and managing social media. Researching was straightforward since I had a clear focus and knew exactly what I was looking for, but creating the logo was more challenging. I wanted a design that was both simple and elegant, so I explored multiple logo creation tools and AI platforms before finally finding the perfect design after two days. On social media, I experimented with adding polls to increase engagement and gather audience feedback. Additionally, I started building a new possible website on Wix Studio, which is more professional than Wix Editor but also more complex to manage. Despite the challenge the upgrade could be a significant improvement. Moving forward, my goal is to successfully transfer all content from Wix Editor to Wix Studio and refine the website for a more professional look.
Yonatan:
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New website, Wix Studio
Our logo
Week 3: 2/21/25
David Kaswan:
This week, I focused on gaining information for my target users survey and for the experts survey. I began by figuring out who my target audience was, which I realized were all types of marine owners, dock workers/staff, anyone who owns a boat, or anyone involved in any coastal activities near bodies of water. I then proceeded to contact many marines and boat owners, fishing docks, and people who have boats there, distributing my survey. I also moved on to find out who my experts were, which were hydroelectric professionals across corporations and college groups. I emailed many of them and contacted a few, and I am currently working towards getting responses for the expert survey. Finally, I created a prediction of what our target users will be and put it onto a visually appealing graph.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I was tasked with finalizing the CAD models with measurements as well as creating the goals and constraints for the product. I had previously completed the majority of the CAD model due to having already built a prototype, however, that model focused more on the simulation of the waves rather than how the actual product in itself would be. Additionally I hadn't incorporated a place to keep all the circuitry to both convert the electricity from AC to DC as well as the Arduino to read the voltage. So I spent the majority of the time creating a shell which would house all the components in a neat and nice looking fashion. I had originally faced issues in rounding out the corners of the product however after some messing around with several tools and shapes, this issue was resolved. Then for the goals and constraints I made sure to especially target the fact that our device needed to generate a set amount of electricity to power the lighting. I struggled on realizing other constraints until I remembered that the product would be susceptible to harsh marine conditions as well as continuous wear and tear to key components and would therefore need to be ready for maintenance every couple of years as well as have durable parts.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week my job was to write a thesis statement, explain the use of our sensors, find the past solutions for our problem, post on social media, and work on the website. At first I wrote the thesis statement. By looking at the existing solutions and seeing that they are impractical to widespread use in small coastal areas I was able to clearly define the problem we are solving. Then I wrote about the use sensors which was pretty easy since we only have one sensor. Still, I did a little research on some of the ways were going to use the Arduino. Looking for past solutions was difficult, since there aren't any real devices that generate their energy from docks. After a while I decided it would be best to just write about the most similar one which is a wave based generator. For social media this week I showcased both of the websites, and created a poll to see which people like more. Still unsure which website would be best fit I decided to work on the old website, fixing some minor issues with the menu, improving its style and simplicity. Additionally, I changed some fonts to add elegancy and aesthetics. For the following weeks I hope I could fully decide which website would be better for us.
Week 4: 2/28/25
David Kaswan:
This week, my task was to finish distributing both the expert and the target user surveys, as well as analyse all of the data and show what our group takes away from each data point. I begun by calling a few more people to get the final forms filled out, and once I did so, I compiled all of the graphs into a document and under them wrote for each one my group’s takeaways from that information. I began with the experts and then moved on to the target users and finished with that. Finally, I created a comparison of the user profiles with the demographics and psychographic data. Additionally, I created the Gantt chart to split the roles for the week at the beginning when our work was assigned to us.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week, my tasks included both making progress on the prototype itself and estimating the target users and financial chart. While working on the prototype this week, I focused on building the 3 phase AC bridge rectifier circuit to convert the AC electricity into usable DC electricity. This was difficult at first as I had issues with soldering the Schottky diodes together however after figuring out how to properly position them, the process was easy. I then attached the smoothing capacitor so that it would not overload any devices with current. When testing it with a multimeter, I had originally estimated a low voltage of just 5V, however, I was surprised to see that it managed to reach a peak voltage of around 13V. This was incredible as it was far more electricity than I had anticipated, however it meant I would need to also order a very cheap voltage reading module as the new voltage was now too high for the Arduino on its own. When working on my financial chart I decided to restrict our target market size to around 80% of commercial marinas in both North America and Europe as I wanted to estimate the accurate profits. By using excel I calculated several other factors such as installation and maintenance costs and ultimately calculated our net income across 15 years. Originally I was only going to calculate across 10 years, however I realized that a significant amount of the income came from the maintenance fees for marina owners which only began to take place in the 7th year.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week I was tasked with creating an abstract summarizing the project scope, conducting a detailed interview with a target user, posting on social media, and working on the website. First, I made a list of things I needed to discuss on the abstract. This helped me significantly in writing it and understanding the purpose of Blue Motion better. Then I started writing down questions for the direct observation and how the product will be used in their life. I began looking for someone whom I could interview, but had difficulty in finding someone who would cooperate. After calling dozens of marinas, one answered. I spoke with the manager and he kindly answered all of my questions. From his answers I learned how docks are handled and what marinas are interested in. Later, I decided to try something new on social media. I discussed with a classmate of mine and he told me that edits get a lot of interactions, so I decided to make one. I created an edit of some of our best moments, and our device. Since this week was quite busy I didn't have much time to settle on which site would be better. For following weeks, I would want to conduct more interviews, since this one gave us so much necessary information, or maybe even visit a marina to observe for myself.
Week 5: 3/7/25
David Kaswan:
This week I was tasked with compiling all of the previous research done and finishing/connecting them into one complete research paper. At first, I was confused about how to structure the essay because all I had were pieces of separate information, one that I had previously written about competitors, and a very brief one about how the Arduino works. I began by setting up a structure for the essay, putting general information about our product first, then about our competitors, then about how our product actually works, and finally, I wrote about the financials. After the structure was written, I moved on to writing about how our product worked because that was a piece that wasn’t written and lacked information. I first had to edit the research about the Arduino because we recently switched from reading the voltage directly to using a separate reader that could read higher voltages. After I wrote that, I moved onto the way that we turned AC voltage into DC voltage. I was a bit lost because we had built it without truly understanding how it worked, but after watching instructional videos and reading articles on Bridge Rectifier, I learned enough to write about it, and to make it easy for the reader to understand. Finally, I decided to end off the essay with the financials to show the true potential of our product, leaving the reader more bought into our idea.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I was responsible for continuing progress on the construction of the device. Since the previous week I had completed the 3 phase AC bridge rectifier circuit and was now receiving DC electricity, I needed to attach the component to read the voltage values. When I had first read the voltages with a multimeter, they had been higher than the 4V I had originally calculated. Originally the voltage was going to be read by an arduino which can receive up to 5V, but due to the higher voltage, I had to purchase a voltage reading module compatible with arduino. This setup was overall very easy as there were few connections necessary and the code was simple and attached to the page where I had purchased the module. However, at first, regardless of all the connections being correct, it was still not outputting any values. To resolve this issue I decided to use the multimeter to check the continuity of all the wires to make sure they weren't internally damaged. Luckily this resolved my issue as with this method I had detected a faulty wire. After replacing this connection the system worked perfectly displaying voltages of up to 9V when spinning the wheel, and when not, the value would gradually decrease due to the smoothing capacitor.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, I wrote the script for our commercial, worked on the website, and posted on our social media. Starting with the script, I wanted to create something intriguing. I brainstormed with my teammates in hopes for ideas, yet found no success. After approximately two days, I had it. My idea had a sort of chase and mystery, which I knew would immediately draw the user. By making Blue Motion seem so important and game changing I hope to make people feel like they are becoming part of the future, part of something new and innovative. There are still some small changes I need to make, but other than that it's done. For social media this week I mostly focused on posting our progress. Last week's edit got a solid amount of interactions, making me believe I should make more. Lastly, for the website I fixed some minor issues for smoother user experience and tried embedding the user survey form into it using code, but had no success. Additionally, I created the about us page, trying my best to make sure it has a nice design. My goals for next week are to create another edit, and successfully embed the form.
Week 6: 3/18/25
David Kaswan:
This week, I was tasked with creating the presentation. I only had this for the week because since we switched projects in this semester, I wasn’t able to use last semester’s presentation and I had to start from scratch. In the beginning, I looked for a presentation that matched the theme of our project. I found 3 that were boat-themed but didn’t match with the tone of our project, so after conversing with my teammate, I settled on a professional ocean theme, which was close enough. After that, I had difficulty understanding in what order and how I should format my presentation, but after looking through last year’s presentation for inspiration, I wrote my format down as a checklist from canvas that I could fill out as I was completing stuff. I began by pasting in the things that I already had done, which in this case was the prototype working, the competitor comparison, the survey results, the financial chart, and later as my partner finished it, the business plan. Next, I had trouble knowing what to write for each slide that we were going to say. To solve this, I formulated a plan where I would write down what I had to speak about in each slide in bullets, and then I expanded them into the full script for that slide. This was very successful, as I used it for all of my slides. Finally, I thought about the future steps of our product to create the slide for it. At first, I was leaning towards just increasing production and efficiency, but as I realized this was very vague, I specified towards chasing Asian markets, developing energy storage, and enhancing quality of products used for more efficient energy conversion.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I was responsible for creating the plan for the trifold, completing the code, and making progress on the prototype. While working on the trifold my main issues were figuring out what the most important components to display would be as well as organizing them on the board. I began by putting both of the surveys on either side of the board as they took up space, would be visually appealing, and showed the rationale behind some decisions as well as how much other people liked it. I then put the title of the product as well as all our names at the top. Right underneath this I decided to include the logo for aesthetic reasons along with the fact that it made it appear more professional. I then went through different topics such as the physical product, reasoning, and a somewhat miscellaneous for crucial information. Overall I believe I created a simple yet effective model for the trifold by also reflecting off the success of our trifold from the previous year. I then worked on the code which was relatively simple as it was already printing out the voltage and now I would simply need it to print out the water conditions. To do this I measured what the output voltage would be in the 3 simulated water conditions and created a range for this. I then updated the code to print the corresponding water condition when the voltage fit the range. Lastly, my most difficult task this week was creating the case and fitting the circuitry inside. I began by printing out the case in PLA in two halves to fit everything inside and then seal it. I then screwed in the dynamo which fit perfectly. After that I realized that the case had originally been designed without the intention of fitting the voltage reader so it was difficult to fit the components in. I decided to make it fit by shortening every wire I could and soldering things rather than using pins to save space. I also needed to insulate everything with electrical tape so that connections would not interrupt.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, I was tasked with creating the business presentation, writing our acknowledgments, fixing the script, posting on social media, and working on the website. At first, I wrote our acknowledgments which wasn't too hard. I tried to reminisce on who are the people who supported and helped this idea come to life. Then, I began working on the business presentation. I went over an example Mr. Rivera provided for us, and chose a template that would be appropriate for our presentation. I then looked at our past sources and writings to find everything I could about our target users, marketing, and financials. Then I put this information in the B2B slide, explaining our business approach. Since the presentation needed to demonstrate how we would develop into a corporation, I included a possible manufacturer that fits our criteria. I then had a discussion with my team about our marketing strategies and long and short visions for Blue Motion. Based on that I created to more slides discussing our marketing strategy and visions. I then put in certain parts of the financial chart I found fit for the presentation. The video of our device working I posted last week reached two thousand views, proving immense progress in our marketing department. This led me to believe I should post more of our device. Finally, for the script, there wasn't too much to fix, only small grammar and sentence structure mistakes. My future goals are getting even more traction on social media, hopefully by posting our device and progress and filming our commercial.
Week 7: 3/27/25
David Kaswan:
This week, I was tasked with creating the personal presentation gimmick, along with the gantt chart for the week. As always, I did the gantt chart at the beginning of the week so that everyone knew what they had to do. Then moving to my next task, I began brainstorming for what the presentation gimmick should be. At first, I thought that maybe we could bring water in a container and place our product, but as I wrote down how it would play out, I began to see that it was far too messy and complicated to do, and decided against it. I then thought that we could use a wave simulator attached to our model floating pile dock, which would both be easier to bring in and display for the presentation. I also made sure that for the presentation, we would have the simulator connected to power, as well as for us to have a laptop to display the specific numbers of voltage being produced for proof of concept. I felt that this was sufficient, but as I realized that people needed a more visual display of our product, I decided to add an led to the product that would turn on as it generated power so that people could understand it easier in person.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I was tasked with continuing construction on the prototype. This week was much more difficult than I had anticipated as I was originally just going to work on fitting the electronics inside the case. However, I decided I would also make two more wires coming out so that the prototype would be able to also either power an LED or charge batteries. I had believed this would be easy, however after creating the parallel circuit, I noticed that the voltage readings had dropped due to the LED. I then spent several hours trying to figure out how to have the voltage read before powering the LED to avoid any voltage drops in the readings, however I soon discovered this was not a possibility. I instead decided to create an algorithm inside the code which would give a very close estimation to what the original voltage would be. After spending several hours trying to understand the flow of electricity and voltages in a parallel circuit, I ultimately came up with an effective formula. By doubling the voltage by two until it reached the LED’s forward voltage of 1.8V and then adding 1.8 to the readings greater than it, I accurately simulated the voltage readings.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, I was tasked with working on our trifold, posting on social media, and working on our website. Unlike usually, I began my week with a focus on the website. For a while, something about the aesthetic of the new website I designed felt wrong; I talked to my teammates, and they told me they liked the design of the original website better. This led me to go back to work on it. I added a lot of new features, such as animations, a new background image, and some more details regarding our device on the home page. After being somewhat satisfied with the website’s look, I began working on the trifold. At first, I took a look at Lior’s plan from last week and gathered the needed information. I then bought the trifold and printed everything. I had some trouble deciding what design the trifold would have, but I gathered some spray paint and stickers that could be useful for the following weeks. For social media, I posted a video of our new website additions and an update on our trifold. Additionally, I finished the prototype app (only images, not actual working app) I have been working on as a side project. It gives the user analysis and details regarding the wave motion, electricity generated, and money saved/earned. For the following weeks I hope to improve our website’s footer and finish the trifold.
Week 8: 4/7/25
David Kaswan:
This week I was tasked with creating the commercial, along with editing the elevator pitch. For the elevator pitch, I decided to film us presenting separate from showing the actual presentation at the same time. Then, in Adobe Editor, I used a double greenscreen, and made the slideshow an mp4 so that it would work in the app. For the commercial, I decided to take an AI approach to it. I begun by trying to create a script using a script ai, and once that worked, I decided to create videos using ChatGPT’s SORA AI. Then, when I realized that I couldn’t make videos with my account, I shifted to making photos with it and then using image-video on a different ai. This worked at first, but I realized that this process was way to inefficient and inaccurate, so I backtracked. While rethinking my approach, I came across a video of AliBaba’s new video AI that is free, called Wan 2.1. I looked it up, and signed up to use it. I then tried a video, and it worked perfectly, so I decided to use chat to make the prompts that I would then feed this ai. Finally, after getting all the videos, I used a different ai called speechify to make the ai voice over for the commercial. Finally, I edited it all together using a free web editor titled elevate.io, seen in the image below. Overall, this week really screwed into me the idea of always finding out ways around the problems I face to solutions, even without any obvious ones.
Lior Kliksberg:
This week I essentially needed to finish my product. Originally it was not going to be that difficult as it really required fixing up some circuitry, insulating everything, and then fitting it in the case. However, since I realized we had more time, I decided to exchange the Arduino for one with a bluetooth module in order to wirelessly send the data from the voltage sensor to an app. I planned to make the app very basic as I did not have much time. It would essentially be an app for people who owned boats at a marina so that they could check on the current water conditions of the exact location of their boat. Making this app proved to be difficult however as I had originally accidentally created it on a software, MIT App Inventor, which did not support iOS. I then spent much time recreating this app on Thunkable. In the end though what proved to be most difficult was actually being able to test the app as there were many very difficult steps with very long wait times to be able to test Thunkable. In the end I managed to test the App however it seemed to have some bugs. Although I was not able to resolve this issue this week, I plan on doing it the following week.
Yonatan Ben David:
This week, I focused on finalizing the trifold, updating the website, and posting on social media. For the trifold, I reviewed past designs from other groups for inspiration and created a sleek, modern layout. I reorganized the content into clearer sections to make it more structured and easy to follow. Although I had some trouble with cutting, I was able to correct most of the mistakes using a cutting machine. On the website, I added a new section to the homepage showcasing the prototype app I created, including animations that demonstrate how it would look on a phone. For social media, I shared images of both the updated trifold and the new website section. Looking ahead, I plan to refine the website further and add a few finishing touches to the trifold.
David:
