Capstone Project

For this semester long project, my classmates and I have been challenged to brainstorm a problem that we believe is prevalent and can be solved. From there we will design, develop, and test the best possible solution to this problem. My team decided to tackle the problem of idle USBs plugged into computers wasting energy. All of our research, resources, and work will be stored in a google drive file.

Our mentor for this project:

Professor Janin Darwiche of Santa Monica College who will help us design and develop our software component as well as give us professional advice and guidance throughout our project when it comes to electrical engineering.

1/29/2021 Capstone Project Update:

Recently, my group members and I had our first official meeting with our mentor, Janin Darwiche, on January 17th where we had introductions and gave a detailed description of our project along with setting goals for the future. In terms of the progress we have made in our project, after revising our solution, we have further researched the specific materials and tools needed to create a prototype of our hardware component—the USB hub—as well as the knowledge needed in coding and electrical engineering to develop the app and computer software component. We are also further considering the experience and connections we need in order to develop the educational component of our solution that will have a base in social media. Another area of our recent focus is in the current market for solutions related to energy conservation and weighing pros and cons of each solution while comparing them to our solution.

3/5/2021 Capstone Project Update:

Recently, my group members and I have made significant progress in being able to create our first prototype. We have finalized all of the materials that we need to build the prototype and we are ordering them today. Of course, these materials are only for the usb hub, which is the hardware component of our solution. Thomas and Borna have experience in coding and python so they will be working on the software component to our solution for the next couple of weeks. We are also hoping to meet with our mentor soon to discuss building the prototype and the code.