Concept Generation, Planning, and Proposal Stage
The second phase of the design process is the concept generation, planning, and proposal stage. The purpose of this stage is to begin developing creative solutions that will solve the problem defined in the previous phase, all while adhering to the problem requirements and constraints. This phase consists of coming up with many potential ideas and then selecting one of them (concept generation), planning how to most efficiently enact the solution and actualize the product (planning), and then proposing the solution to the client (proposal).
Activities
- Began extensively reading documentation required for Microsoft Kinect and Unity Engine
- Developed:
- Began creating minor side projects in Unity as a means to practice and gain experience working with the engine, as well as the C# code associated with it.
- Began creating minor side projects in Android Studio as a means to practice and gain experience working with mobile application development.
- Created concepts and selected the one that the team deemed to best meet all project requirements.
- Presented the client, Dr. Elmer Grubbs, with the developed solution via a formal client proposal
Milestones
- Both team members became able to operate and code in Unity's game engine, as well as become somewhat proficient in mobile application development via Android Studio.
- Developed a high level design of how the virtual reality and data analysis program would flow.
- Produced two large deliverables for the client, as well as the EE476C course, including:
- Received approval from the technical adviser and the client, Dr. Grubbs, that the proposed solution was satisfactory and that the team could move forward with it into the next phase.
- Began coding and actually working to implement the approved solution.
Tools
The software utilized during this phase include basic office based softwares, including:
The software utilized during this phase include basic office based softwares, including:
- Microsoft Office Tools (Word and PowerPoint for documentation and presentations)
- Google Services (Gmail and Google Drive for communication and collaboration)
- Microsoft Kinect SDK (for motion tracking and gesture control)
- Unity Engine in C# (for creating the virtual environment)
- Microsoft Kinect
- Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 Virtual Reality Headset
- A Computer (either desktop or laptop)
Design Decisions
During this phase, only one major design decision was made, and that was how the data analysis program would be presented and how it would "flow". However, much of this was decided for our team based on the desires of the client, Dr. Grubbs. The exact layout of each scene in the program can be viewed as the "high level flow" diagram listed above, in the "Milestones" section of this page.
The two primary deciding factors in how the program was laid out were the requirements set forth by the client in conjunction with principles of clean, aesthetic design.
During this phase, only one major design decision was made, and that was how the data analysis program would be presented and how it would "flow". However, much of this was decided for our team based on the desires of the client, Dr. Grubbs. The exact layout of each scene in the program can be viewed as the "high level flow" diagram listed above, in the "Milestones" section of this page.
The two primary deciding factors in how the program was laid out were the requirements set forth by the client in conjunction with principles of clean, aesthetic design.
Design Work
Surprisingly, this phase yielded no builds, analysis, simulations, or the selection of any parts. Additionally, it did not yield any prototypes or testing scenarios, just yet. However, the third phase of the design process is expected to yield a great deal of detailed design and subsystem testing, as well as numerous prototype programs, as more coding and developing occurs.
Surprisingly, this phase yielded no builds, analysis, simulations, or the selection of any parts. Additionally, it did not yield any prototypes or testing scenarios, just yet. However, the third phase of the design process is expected to yield a great deal of detailed design and subsystem testing, as well as numerous prototype programs, as more coding and developing occurs.
Testing
As mentioned above, this phase did not yield any rigorous testing or prototyping. However, a great deal of testing and debugging is expected to occur in the next phase of the design process.
As mentioned above, this phase did not yield any rigorous testing or prototyping. However, a great deal of testing and debugging is expected to occur in the next phase of the design process.
Challenges
During this phase, the team discovered one major technical challenge. That is, during the multiple month dormancy of this project, advances in the Oculus Rift, as well as in virtual reality technology were so great that the laptop provided for the project can no longer keep up, graphically, with the requirements of the Oculus DK2 or Unity's engine.
Although this is an unfortunate development, it does not hinder the progress of the project, as all work can continue to be done on a desktop computer in the EE senior projects lab. The major loss in this newly discovered development is that the project (for right now) contains no aspect of portability. Not only has our team lost the ability to work on the project away from the engineering building, but the data analysis program can not be showcased in any setting other than on the desktop computer in the engineering lab.
During this phase, the team discovered one major technical challenge. That is, during the multiple month dormancy of this project, advances in the Oculus Rift, as well as in virtual reality technology were so great that the laptop provided for the project can no longer keep up, graphically, with the requirements of the Oculus DK2 or Unity's engine.
Although this is an unfortunate development, it does not hinder the progress of the project, as all work can continue to be done on a desktop computer in the EE senior projects lab. The major loss in this newly discovered development is that the project (for right now) contains no aspect of portability. Not only has our team lost the ability to work on the project away from the engineering building, but the data analysis program can not be showcased in any setting other than on the desktop computer in the engineering lab.