Final Project Proposal Template

Project Title

Programmable-Air is a hardware tool and accompanying software that allows anyone familiar with Arduino to experiment with low power pneumatics. I want to develop documentation for this project and test its efficacy through workshops and training.

Team Members

Amitabh Shrivastava- tinkrmind.me

Define the problem.

The documentation for Programmable-Air is currently scattered in a long README file and the GitHub repo is not well managed. Since the project is hardware, electrical and software there should be separate repositories for each of these components. Through this project I aim to not only create a well organized repo but also to test that it is understandable to users(makers already familiar with Arduino and interested in pneumatics) by doing workshops and one-on-one training sessions. Another important aspect of the project is to define the culture for contributing and sharing work for Programmable-Air.

Address Greater Landscape

In the short term, I intend to sell about 50 beta units to enthusiast users by the end of December, with the intention to get design feedback and feature requests for the next iteration. Having an issue tracking platform and getting started documentation will be absolutely essential for this. I will be porting over most of the code from the existing GitHub repo as well as making getting started videos as needed.

Deliverables

Usable documentation for Programmable-Air that makes it possible for someone familiar with Arduino to get started without mentoring.

Implementation

Mainly just documentation of Arduino code and library as well as electrical schematics and some mechanical models.

Timeline

Week 1

• Port latest files from personal repo to Programmable-Air organizational repo.

Week 2

• Test setting up a Programmable-Air dev environment on a new Mac and Windows computer using only the repo.
• Make changes to the repo based on this experience.
• Iterate.

Week 3

• Do three one-on-one training sessions on getting started with Programmable-Air.
• Make changes to the repo based on this experience.

Week 4

• Do a workshop on Programmable-Air using the repo as the bulk of the documentation in leu of slides.
• Make changes to the repo based on this experience.

Week 5

• Have a remote user set up a Programmable-Air dev environment based on the repo.
• Make changes to the repo based on this experience.

Documentation

All the contributions will be made on Programmable-Air GitHub repo. Some personal experience about creating the repo will be shared on Hackaday.io

Longer-Term Goals

I intend to develop Programmable-Air as a product for makers and will most likely take it up as my thesis project. Over the next six months I intend to sell over one thousand units to makers.

Accessibility

Since this project is mostly written documentation, it poses no special challenges in terms of Accessibility. I intend to adhere to the WCAR guidelines as closely as possible.

Mentoring

Julio Terra, Head of Technology and Design Community at Kickstarter, NYC

More about you

I have been a long time maker. Over the years I've made a wind tunnel to study insect flight, an electric skateboard that outperformed the boosted board, a height sensor for elephants, and a robotic arm that draws your face. But I've had little formal training in mechatronics. Most of what I know about electronics and DIY I've learned through online tutorials and open source projects. I try to give back to the community whenever possible. I share my projects on Instructables and on my website tinkrmind.me

References

This proposal template was created with material and advice from:

• How to write a proposal for GSoC
• Processing Foundation GSoC application template
• Getting into Summer of Code programs