Today, we tried to start finishing the project.  We have most things done, but still need to do a lot of work.  We have not cut anything in wood yet.  I think that it will be best if we put all of our components in one cut, so it is done at the same time.  We need to cut out the button box, supports, and screen holder in wood.  Assembling them should not be too hard if we got the measurements correct.  Today, I worked on a lot of different things.  I started making the screen holder, but Louie is going to finish that.  I also started to write the process post.  I got a decent amount of that done, before I found out that we were not presenting tomorrow.  I then switched my attention to the button box.  While checking if all of the notches lined up, I discovered that they did not.  I spent the rest of the day trying to fix the alignment, with help from my coaches.  

Unfortunately, I spent most of my day making a bracket for the screen.  The unfortunate thing about it was that I was given the wrong dimensions, and thus made the wrong bracket.  I was working on that for almost the whole morning.  When I got to screen, after lunch, I started over, and made the new bracket fairly quickly.  The thing that took the longest was waiting for the laser cutter.  Waiting to cut took a very long time, and there was not a lot of other things to do while waiting.  The way the bracket works now is by utilizing the holes on the sides of the Screen.  I made a flat pierce of cardboard (could be any material) that allows bolts to be attached through the screen and onto the support.  This is not a perfect solution to our mounting problem, but I do not know if we will have time to make changes.  Tomorrow, we have to cut everything out in wood, and make sure there are no bugs in the game.  

Today, I spent almost all of my time improving the button box.  I listened to a lot of the feedback about the button box, and remodeled the whole thing.  I made it more compact and less likely to hurt somebody.  On the original design there were a lot of pointed edges; I got rid of those on the new design.  In addition to those improvements, I made the buttons closer to each other.  I still think that the games will be easier with two hands, but now the user can made that decision.  I also added extra pieces to the supports.  I made cut outs in the bottom of the button box and corresponding pierces on the support, so that the bond would be a lot stronger.  At the end of the day, I started to think about how the screen would attach to the box and pole.  I have some ideas, but I will not know if they work until I try them.

Today, we did a lot of laser cutting and made a lot of design choices.  We spent most of the morning focusing on the button housing.  We made a few minor changes to the original design, such as hole spacing and size, in Rhino before cutting it out in cardboard.  Everything was great on the housing besides the holes.  Unfortunately, the laser cutter malfunctioned, and did not cut circles.  Instead, it cut some sort of strange ellipse.  This problem was easy enough to fix though, and we moved onto the buttons.  We first revised the casing around the button, making it smaller and more aesthetically pleasing.  We also figured out a way to house the button within the box.  The last thing that we worked on was the structural support for the button box.  We changed the supports so that it is angled more towards the user, so that it is easier to use.

Today, we did a lot of work.  I specifically worked on supporting the button box.  I also helped make a button with Jacob.  For the supports, I used a simple design that will be bolted to the sign post.  I started off with a simple triangular support with holes for the bolts.  The holes were supposed to align with the holes on the sign pole.  Unfortunately, the first time I tried it, the holes did not align.  I think the holes were off by about 0.5mm.  I also learned a better way of making the holes evenly spaced in Rhino.  After fixing the alignment issues, I turned the one triangular support into two, for added support.  The supports are orientated in a way that allows the user to stand comfortably on the sidewalk.  The supports attach to the sides of the pole, so that the person is not standing in the street, or blocking foot traffic.  Today, I also helped make a button.  Jacob did a lot of research into the perfect button, and then we tried out different ideas in Rhino.  We 3D printed one so that we could feel it and try it out.  I think that there are still improvements to be made, but we are in a good place.

Today, we spent the day refining our ideas. After listening to suggestion from our coaches, we looked into different possible set-ups for the games. We also added two more games: Wakamole and Memory. For wakamole, the user would be pressing buttons instead of smashing the moles with a hammer. We also discussed different ideas that were spin offs of the game. At one point, we were talking about making a reaction time based game (more so than it already is). We were going to time how fast a person could react, but we eventually decided to stick with the wakamole idea. Memory is a game where you have to remember a sequence of colors, and press the corresponding button in order. We decided that those three games (the button game, memory, and wakamole) were the best games for what we were trying to do. We also spent a large portion of our day brainstorming ideas for having the games without a screen. After trying to make it work, we finally decided that the screen is a must. We then finished off the day by writing list of reasons why we needed a screen. We plan on sharing these reasons tomorrow.

Today, we did a lot more brainstorming and eventually decided on a topic.  We spent the morning coming up with more ideas.  We decided to focus on games because our other ideas were not as interactive.  We were originally going to make an app that would tell you if you had time to go someplace before the bus came, but we found out that there were already apps like that.  This is why we focused on games.  We had three main ideas for games: The Button Game, Friendship Maker, and Slingshot.  The object of the button game is to press a button as many times as you can over the span of one minute.  The minute will begin when the bus is close to the station.  The friendship maker would be a picture taking devise that would give you more points if there were a greater number of people in the frame.  The slingshot game would be an actual slingshot, rigged with some sort of accelerometer, and you would shoot a digital ball at a digital target.  We went through our options, and eventually decided that we like the button idea the most.  We are going to have high scores and city wide competitions; it will be fun.  After lunch, we began planning out the game and 3d modeled some of the components.  

Today, we split up into our groups and began brainstorming.  Our topic is all about timing.  What we make will help people catch the bus.  The things we create will allow people to wander away from the bus stop, but still be alerted when the bus is close.  We are still in the early brainstorming phase, but we have come up with a few ideas.  We have talked about an app that will tell the people waiting if they have time to run an errand.  It would also alert you when the bus is a certain distance away, so you could wait someplace else without worrying about missing the bus.  Also, we were thinking of adding flashing lights and vibrating seats to the stations.  This would tell the people waiting that the bus is only a few seconds away.  The vibrating seats would also wake up anybody who is sleeping.  This will allow the bus to not have to wait as long because everybody will be ready to get on the bus when it comes.  It also will also clear up a lot of the clutter at the bus stop.  It will help cut down on the amount of people standing at the bus stop.