Day 20: MIT Make in India

Day 20: MIT Make in India

Today I woke up really not feeling that well yet at a reasonable time of 8:30am. Aarooran had left today, and we went to leave him at the train station. I was wearing shorts and by shame could not make it further than the neighborhood entrance, but Daivon, Titan, and Duncan left him. That too on the wrong freaking train. What champs.

Anyways, innovating stops for no one! Kristin, Duncan, and I went onto the roof to start our discussion where Duncan found his wet shirt on the floor. Guess that was not clean or dry. We decided it was too hot and moved to the house. We also ventured into the market to buy some strepsils and flip flops. 

Kristin and Duncan doing god knows what

We then had a good discussion at the fablab with Titan added on and only slight distractions (SHINee though). [notes in Evernote]. Our official design question is: How can “The Allergic” effectively communicate their food restrictions across languages and cultures?

After that I thought it was probably time to work on our team’s project of the trash can, and I tried to code Arduino and understand the magic of electronics. At that time it was obvious that I was now also sick by the sickness that everyone seems to have at varying degrees here. On the bright side, our stuff was getting closer to working. On the not so bright side, I have this really great picture of me sleeping. Thanks, Chingy. 

It was lunchtime and I didn’t really wanna eat, though I ate a little. Jaspreet, Vignesh, Aalim, and Chingy and others were persistent that they would get me snacks, although I really did not want them. I tried to work more to fix the IR sensor that was just not getting the values as focused as possible until everyone came back—and with snacks. 

They brought four apples, three juice boxes, and my favorite Cadbury fruit and nut. That there (although I don’t really like fruit) showed me that I had really made good friends here that truly cared about me. We were all family now for these 3-4 weeks. 

Deepika and I finally got the IR sensor to work after much struggle and wires. Now we have put together all the components (IR sensor, servo, and music player) and coded it to work when the IR sensor senses a distance. We are still trying to make the music player into a smaller component (like an SD). 

After that progress, we decided to take a break and Raj had come back. He told us about his experience in Mumbai with the executives and the Red Light District adventure for them. We all then briefed him on our current progress and such. Soap (dope soap) had a good conversation about the product and just not the soap as the product. As well as the name: Kadha. After that our groups also told him about our product and current progress. I think Raj was happy with our trash can, so I hope that we can deliver a good project. The shark head is currently 3D printing (thanks, Aishwarya!), though without Bangers engraved in the back (sorry, Forest). 

Then Vignesh made me eat the apple, with the threat that he would stuff it down my throat otherwise. Such great friends. I ate the apple. 

While our beautiful trash can shark was 3D printing, Duncan and I sat down and discussed some more about the allergies communications project and have some good notes in Evernote. We are currently thinking about doing an app that makes it easy to communicate allergies across languages and cultures, is easy to understand and use, and contains alternatives and the ability to distinguish between the different levels of severities. 

Our 3D shark finished printing!

that servo fit though

I ate the same sambar for dinner for the 12 hundredth time (though it does taste good), and wanted to hand wash my clothes. I began filling the bucket up with water (the water that has been smelling and tasting like metal for a week now), and the bucket was full of orange water (iron). That I could not take. I had been showering and brushing with that water. I resorted to the washing machine...so at least I didn't have to see it. Still gotta shower and brush though...

I ate my favorite Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate bar. 

Then I spent some time in the fablab thinking about our trashcan idea and such. Dhruv also gave a group of us a quick rundown about how we make websites. It is amazing to see what we can learn from our diverse group of people.