Project Update: Cue

Introduction

As bikers, our team wants to create a safer way to have bikers show what actions they are going to take when biking. Utilizing our product, bikers will be able to easily signal movements and increase visibility with wireless signal lights that are able to be attached to a variety of surfaces, such as a sweater/jacket, backpack, or on the bike itself. With our product, we plan to aid in minimizing bicycle-related injuries and death across the world.

Recap

Part of Cue's foundation has been built this past week, the code from the microbits we will be using for the buttons. A small little recap on how it works :

Press the A button and you will get an arrow blinking to the left <--------

Press the B button and you will get an arrow blinking to the right --------->

Press both the A and the B button at the same time in order to stop the blinking of any arrow.

This week we really hoped we would've been able to finally make a wearable prototype with Emilio's clip on strap idea.

Design Sprint Objective

Our goals for the end of next week and the week after that remain the same. We want to finally make our wearable prototype and have the LEDs and the buttons connected to it so that we can actually use it for what it was meant to do, signal without using your hands while riding a bike.

Progress Update and Insights

This week the team didn't get much done physically, however, we did have several days of discussion on how we were going to execute the prototype. We discussed how big we might want the fabric or felt to be and how we were going to sew the straps to that felt. We were seeing how we could adjust the strap so someone can tighten it or loosen it to fit them comfortably and not interfere with their biking.

Blockers / Obstacles / Unknowns

The team doesn't have any unknowns or obstacles but we are behind on our design sprint. We believe it was best in order to get everything organized and execute the prototype properly. As of now we still need to consider how we're going to connect the LEDs to a button and how exactly we will make the CAD model hold that button on the bike.

What's Next

For this week we will finally take action and begin the sewing process. We will first sew the straps to the felt and then we will attempt to connect the LEDs to the microbits and see if it really will work. Once we finish that process up, we will begin connecting it to a button that will be held with a CAD model of a handle on a bike. We will begin thinking about what ideas we might build on from other designs that could be useful for our product as well.