Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
60 Pin Art Image Generator
Joshua Sanchez
Justin Zhong
Raymundo Vargas
Ali Kourani other1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
# RFA UPDATE 3

## Team Members:
Raymundo Vargas
rvarga2

Justin Zhong
czhong20

Joshua Sanchez
jsanch84

## Problem:

“Pin art” style artistic pieces are a unique and interesting style of art. Many different types of art pieces require significant amounts of time and effort on the part of the artists to become familiar with some electrical and mechanical engineering concepts well out of their scope of knowledge if they want to create pieces that are not two dimensional and static. Rather than spend time considering what they want the art to represent and what style of materials they think best embodies that, artists must commit themselves to spending many hours overcoming this barrier to entry to the art style.

## Solution:

We propose a general-purpose pin-art machine that uses an image-analysis unit to take any image data file, analyze the contours of that image after grayscaling it, and create a physical “pin art” representation where we move pins at a lower resolution to create an art piece of the image. This will essentially create an isometric representation of any image, which should help artists focus less on the process of creating a general contour, and instead focus on developing a material and color aesthetic for the piece.

## Solution Components:

### Subsystem 1
Power:

We plan on connecting our product to a regular 120V outlet

There will be a regulator to make sure the pin pusher and the pin pusher mover have sufficient power.

### Subsystem 2

Pin Art Grid

We need a 2D array of pins, which will lay on its side (pins being horizontal to the floor). Each pin should be less than ¼ inches in diameter and be evenly spread apart from each other in a grid like pattern. It should be like this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHKQEzVy3Ro&t=91s&ab_channel=TheQ](url). At least 10 X 10, ideally 70 x 70 pins.

We will have 1 pin pusher (pushes a square of pins) which will move in a 2D array to displace all the pins to their respective heights. To move the pin pusher it will use a threaded stepper motor like that in this video at 4:30 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSuzXK-uvY8&t=272s&ab_channel=MakersMashup](url) to move the pin pusher in the Z direction and another stepper motor attached to a belt like in this video at 6:10 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbjTq3Q-bI&ab_channel=MakersMashup](url) to move in the Y direction. The pin pusher will be on this 2D mover using linear rails and bearings as shown in the last video at 5:00. The pin pusher will be a linear actuator with a square attached to the end which will push a square group of pins to the desired displacement which is given from subsystem 3.


### Subsystem 3

Image conversion:

This subsystem should take in an image of at least one file type (PNG) and set dimensions (100 x 100), convert that image to grayscale, split up the image into smaller squares which correspond to the coordinates on the 2D array of the Pin Art Grid, come up with the average greyness from those pixels in that square, assign each square’s greyness to a displacement value (white meaning max displacement and black meaning no displacement), and send that info to the Pin Art Grid subsystem to tell the pin pusher how much to displace each group of pins at each coordinate point.

## Criteria for Success:

### High Level:
Given a digital image, our generator should be able to make a physical contour display of that image using pin art push pins.

### Lower Level:

Take in an image

Convert that image to grayscale

Split up the image into smaller squares which correspond to the coordinates on the 2D array of the Pin Art Grid

Come up with the average greyness from those pixels in that square

Assign each square’s greyness to a displacement value (white meaning max displacement and black meaning no displacement)

Move the pin pusher in the Z and Y directions to get behind the corresponding coordinates from the picture

Push the square group of pins to the assigned displacement for each coordinate to finally produce a contour of the image

Healthy Chair

Ryan Chen, Alan Tokarsky, Tod Wang

Healthy Chair

Featured Project

Team Members:

- Wang Qiuyu (qiuyuw2)

- Ryan Chen (ryanc6)

- Alan Torkarsky(alanmt2)

## Problem

The majority of the population sits for most of the day, whether it’s students doing homework or

employees working at a desk. In particular, during the Covid era where many people are either

working at home or quarantining for long periods of time, they tend to work out less and sit

longer, making it more likely for people to result in obesity, hemorrhoids, and even heart

diseases. In addition, sitting too long is detrimental to one’s bottom and urinary tract, and can

result in urinary urgency, and poor sitting posture can lead to reduced blood circulation, joint

and muscle pain, and other health-related issues.

## Solution

Our team is proposing a project to develop a healthy chair that aims at addressing the problems

mentioned above by reminding people if they have been sitting for too long, using a fan to cool

off the chair, and making people aware of their unhealthy leaning posture.

1. It uses thin film pressure sensors under the chair’s seat to detect the presence of a user,

and pressure sensors on the chair’s back to detect the leaning posture of the user.

2. It uses a temperature sensor under the chair’s seat, and if the seat’s temperature goes

beyond a set temperature threshold, a fan below will be turned on by the microcontroller.

3. It utilizes an LCD display with programmable user interface. The user is able to input the

duration of time the chair will alert the user.

4. It uses a voice module to remind the user if he or she has been sitting for too long. The

sitting time is inputted by the user and tracked by the microcontroller.

5. Utilize only a voice chip instead of the existing speech module to construct our own

voice module.

6. The "smart" chair is able to analyze the situation that the chair surface temperature

exceeds a certain temperature within 24 hours and warns the user about it.

## Solution Components

## Signal Acquisition Subsystem

The signal acquisition subsystem is composed of multiple pressure sensors and a temperature

sensor. This subsystem provides all the input signals (pressure exerted on the bottom and the

back of the chair, as well as the chair’s temperature) that go into the microcontroller. We will be

using RP-C18.3-ST thin film pressure sensors and MLX90614-DCC non-contact IR temperature

sensor.

## Microcontroller Subsystem

In order to achieve seamless data transfer and have enough IO for all the sensors we will use

two ATMEGA88A-PU microcontrollers. One microcontroller is used to take the inputs and

serves as the master, and the second one controls the outputs and acts as the slave. We will

use I2C communication to let the two microcontrollers talk to each other. The microcontrollers

will also be programmed with the ch340g usb to ttl converter. They will be programmed outside

the board and placed into it to avoid over cluttering the PCB with extra circuits.

The microcontroller will be in charge of processing the data that it receives from all input

sensors: pressure and temperature. Once it determines that there is a person sitting on it we

can use the internal clock to begin tracking how long they have been sitting. The clock will also

be used to determine if the person has stood up for a break. The microcontroller will also use

the readings from the temperature sensor to determine if the chair has been overheating to turn

on the fans if necessary. A speaker will tell the user to get up and stretch for a while when they

have been sitting for too long. We will use the speech module to create speech through the

speaker to inform the user of their lengthy sitting duration.

The microcontroller will also be able to relay data about the posture to the led screen for the

user. When it’s detected that the user is leaning against the chair improperly for too long from

the thin film pressure sensors on the chair back, we will flash the corresponding LEDs to notify

the user of their unhealthy sitting posture.

## Implementation Subsystem

The implementation subsystem can be further broken down into three modules: the fan module,

the speech module, and the LCD module. This subsystem includes all the outputs controlled by

the microcontroller. We will be using a MF40100V2-1000U-A99 fan for the fan module,

ISD4002-240PY voice record chip for the speech module, and Adafruit 1.54" 240x240 Wide

Angle TFT LCD Display with MicroSD - ST7789 LCD display for the OLED.

## Power Subsystem

The power subsystem converts 120V AC voltage to a lower DC voltage. Since most of the input

and output sensors, as well as the ATMEGA88A-PU microcontroller operate under a DC voltage

of around or less than 5V, we will be implementing the power subsystem that can switch

between a battery and normal power from the wall.

## Criteria for Success

-The thin film pressure sensors on the bottom of the chair are able to detect the pressure of a

human sitting on the chair

-The temperature sensor is able to detect an increase in temperature and turns the fan as

temperature goes beyond our set threshold temperature. After the temperature decreases

below the threshold, the fan is able to be turned off by the microcontroller

-The thin film pressure sensors on the back of the chair are able to detect unhealthy sitting

posture

-The outputs of the implementation subsystem including the speech, fan, and LCD modules are

able to function as described above and inform the user correctly

## Envision of Final Demo

Our final demo of the healthy chair project is an office chair with grids. The office chair’s back

holds several other pressure sensors to detect the person’s leaning posture. The pressure and

temperature sensors are located under the office chair. After receiving input time from the user,

the healthy chair is able to warn the user if he has been sitting for too long by alerting him from

the speech module. The fan below the chair’s seat is able to turn on after the chair seat’s

temperature goes beyond a set threshold temperature. The LCD displays which sensors are

activated and it also receives the user’s time input.

Project Videos