Week 9 Blog Update

Yet again another busy week here for the team at Project Ver!

To start the week, Janice, Alex and Nathan met with a Professor at the ANU school of Engineering to discuss the complexities of the Human Centred Engineering (HCE) approach. This meeting was able to help provide guidance as we enter into the conceptual design phase of the HCE design process.

After developing the functional architecture last week, Alex has generated a project specific model of the HCE process that aligns with our project schedule and milestone breakdown. As discusses, we are now entering into the "Conceptual Design" phase. This will require significant market research to understand the technologies available and more importantly, where technologies are still failing to provide adequate accessibility for blind and vision impaired users.

Image 1: The Human Centred Engineering Process. Image Descriptions can be found at the bottom of the blog update.

Our weekly meeting with Alex marked the start of our journey with large language models (LLM's). We ran through the general ideology behind what makes them so powerful and discussed his vision for LLM implementation in the Ver Device. This was an important discussion to have as we begin considering the system architecture and the requirements of different hardware and software devices. Over the next few weeks we will have a lot to update you on in this space!

Image 2: Weekly Team discussions. Image descriptions are found at the bottom of the blog post under Image 2.

Image Descriptions:

[Image 1: Image Description: The image is a flowchart that illustrates a product development process, divided into five main phases which are laid out from left to right and are color-coded for clarity. These phases are labeled "STRATEGY," "PRE-DESIGN," "CONCEPTUAL DESIGN," "ENGINEERING DESIGN," and "DELIVERY" at the bottom of the image.

The first phase, STRATEGY, includes a large rounded rectangle labeled "Identify Opportunities" and a darker set of tabs stacked vertically, marking steps such as "ALIGNMENT," "M1 ConOps," and "Gather Information."

The second phase, PRE-DESIGN, features a large hourglass shape marked with "INITIATION" and "M2 Requirements Gathering and Validation" on top and "M3 Initial Subsystem FFBD" on bottom.

Moving on to the third phase, CONCEPTUAL DESIGN, there's a complex figure resembling a sand timer, labeled "IDEAS SCREEN" on top and bottom. Labeled boxes such as "M4 Bill of Search Materials" and "M5 Concept Generation Initialised" feed into the top, while "M7 1st Concept Review" leads out from the bottom.

The fourth phase, ENGINEERING DESIGN, shows an even larger circle overlapping the previous phase, with "M8 Testing and Validation Framework," "M9 2nd Concept Review and Prototype Selection," "M10 Testing and Validation Stage 1," and others encircling it.

The final phase, DELIVERY, includes another large circle, partially overlapping the previous one, and is connected to rectangular boxes labeled "M11 Final Bill of Materials," "M12 Design Review," "M13 Testing and Validation Stage 2," "M14 Market Ready and User Guide Ready," "M15 PA4 Ready," and finally "M16 Final Project Document."

Arrows connect each phase, and additional boxes, indicating separate tasks or milestones, flow logically from one phase to the next.

Alt-text: A horizontal product development process flowchart with five main phases: STRATEGY, PRE-DESIGN, CONCEPTUAL DESIGN, ENGINEERING DESIGN, and DELIVERY. Each phase contains specific steps marked with "M" followed by a number, indicating milestones, with arrows connecting the sequence of tasks.]

[Image 2: The image portrays a casual meeting or brainstorming session in an office environment. Two people, a man and a woman, are facing a whiteboard which is filled with handwritten notes and diagrams related to a project. The man stands while writing on the whiteboard, reaching upwards towards the top right corner of the board. He is wearing a white t-shirt and dark jeans. His body orientation and gesture suggest that he is in the process of explaining or adding information to the board. The woman is seated, her body turned towards the board, and she appears to be listening or participating in the discussion. She has her hair tied up and is wearing a dark top. The whiteboard content includes flowcharts, lists, and various terminologies (such as "Algorithm," "Detect Objects," and "Research Outputs") that seem to discuss a technical or software development concept. The room's lighting is modern, with recessed ceiling lights, and the overall atmosphere is focused and collaborative.]