This week was all about getting other’s opinions of our product. We had the opportunity to split into groups and present our product. The other team then listened to us and gave us their opinion on our project. This actually gave us some great insight and the feedback that they provided will prove invaluable in the next couple weeks as we are finishing up our project. We also got the opportunity to look at some other groups projects and see how their progress was going.

The first group we were paired with was working on a door stopper that would attach to your door and slide out when you wanted to make sure your door didn’t close. It was a really cool idea and hopefully the feedback we gave them will help them out down the road. They were still on their first prototype so there was some problems such as how much shock the piece holding the door open could absorb. However, their group figured out that by using a more flexible material that could absorb more shock, the piece wouldn’t shatter as easily. I thought this was a really smart adjustment, as well as a cool demonstration of all the kinds of materials that 3D printers are able to use.

The second group we assessed was making a fitbit for hydration. This device would tell you when you were dehydrated, as well as give you friendly updates to keep drinking water. I found this one especially cool, particularly how they got the sensor to get information back to the Arduino and tell the wristband how often and what color to blink. I am also very impressed at how they learned to make this electronic piece in such a short time with no background.

At the end of the day, we got some minor adjustments but our aquaponics system is looking pretty good and everyone seemed to like it! The next week should include the finishing touches on our project as well as preparation for our presentation on May 1st. I can hardly wait to see our finished product!