User:1sfoerster/enes100/fall2014/Attendance scanning/sfoerster-weeklyP1report

P1 Weekly Report for sfoerster:

Week2
Task: Creating smallest, minimal application to take attendance by scanning bar codes

Switching Design strategies. Starting over without referring to any java commands (which have dots after the variable names). Splitting up the original, do it all, application into smaller chunks:
 * Just attendance
 * Attendance and clickers
 * Classroom attendance
 * Attendance and access (unlock doors)

Posted message in the Processing Forum and received two replies. Was debugging the keyboard (scanner) input function.

Task: Posting Attendance Access code to GitHub
 * Downloaded GitHub for windows, installed both GUI and command line shell
 * After install, followed initial instructions, created id and repository called Attendance Access
 * Github playlist
 * Git in wikibooks .. all the wikimedia graphics category
 * documentation
 * generates random names for test purposes
 * used random number generator of spreadsheet to generate 7 digit bar code id's
 * can download and test with or without scanner from GitHub

Week 3
Task: Merge all previous Door Access projects into version 3 format


 * Background

Attendance is the process of marking students arriving on-time as present and students arriving late as tardy. Depending upon the course and the professor, it may or may not count towards the final grade. The engineering department at Howard Community College includes attendance as part of the students grade which is accumulative. Being tardy deprives student of credit for that day.

Problem
Taking attendance was a big problem for professors at Howard Community College during individual class sections and the engineering seminar. Students would arrive late or after teach took attendance and it caused disruptions as the professor would adjust the record for the late student.

Conceive
original video inspiration

Design
The Spark Fun Monster Motor Shield was chosen because it could deliver lots of current without overheating. The adafruit motor shield overheated.

Design and prototype a spool in Google sketch-up, but it printed to no avail, for several reasons, though it was a good design. Found and used an STL sketch-up plug-in, and re-designed the spool with a few modifications, though functioning on the same principals. Saved it, compiled it with Makerware, and printed successfully.

Tried to fit spool on the spindle, but was a very tight fit. feared I would break it if I forced it. I took a file set above the sink and enlarged the spindel's hole by a teeny smidge (Technical term, less than a quarter millimeter in radius) until it was able to fit onto the spindle. Still a VERY tight fit. Did not modify the other half, just used the vice to press fit it on. Deformed the plastic a bit, but it worked well in joining the spool, and it was such a tight fit I doubted I would have to glue it. (I wound up gluing it)

Demo
All the hardware has been previously designed and built, ready to be assembled. Very straight forward

Soldered the wires, and hardware is done.

Week 4
Task: Get USB Host Shield Working


 * USB Host Shield being used
 * code described
 * code download location