PAUSED - (M)PSD: Info App
Project System Development
In the system development project, students work on a given computer science topic in a team under practical conditions.
The lecturer takes on the role of the client / customer. At the same time, however, he supports the team as a leading member in order to set the right course and get the project rolling, especially in the initial phase.
Over the course of the project, the student team members usually take on different roles (project manager, architect, developer, tester, etc.) and thus get to know the project work from different perspectives.
In an introductory event, the task is first outlined and the framework conditions explained. During the project, weekly project meetings are held in which the results of the previous week are presented and the objectives of the coming week(s) are defined.
Topic
We explain the task using the example of a day care center (KiTa). This example also serves as a use case for the prototype to be developed. It is easy to see that the idea applies analogously to many other areas of application.
Problem definition
Parents leave their children in the care of daycare centers for a few hours on weekdays. During the time the children spend there, there are various events that many parents would like to be informed about (sometimes daily). Examples are
- Has my child slept? For how long?
- What has my child eaten? How much?
- Was my child outside today (on the KiTa playground)?
- What or who did my child particularly enjoy playing with today?
- Are there any changes to the normal daily routine?
- etc.
Currently, parents ask the responsible educators when they pick up their child. However, there are various problems with this, for example:
- The teachers have to memorize everything. It can happen that facts are forgotten or assigned to the wrong children.
- Or another educator has just been supervising, who then also has to be questioned, provided it is clear who was actually there.
- Or the teacher is no longer there at pick-up time. Then the knowledge either has to be passed on to other teachers (who then have to remember even more), or the parents ask for the (old) information the next day. Neither makes the situation any better.
- etc.
Both parents and teachers would like a better way of managing and passing on this information. There are various solutions that have been considered but have turned out to be impractical. These solutions often fail because it is practically impossible for educators to write down or even type in the facts during normal daycare operations. Last but not least, some solutions cause privacy concerns, as only the respective parents should be informed about their child and not, for example, all parents in the group.
Solution approach / task
The aim is to automate the recording, management and distribution of data as far as possible.
To this end, the data is to be recorded by the educators as spoken natural language sentences during the normal course of the day. Smart watches, for example, which are connected to the Internet either directly or via a cell phone, are to serve as recording devices. Two modern cell phones and two modern smart watches are already available (Android and iOS). The use of other or additional devices is conceivable.
The interpretation and conversion of the audio data into other formats, e.g. text, which are more suitable for the subsequent process steps, takes place either on the end device or in the backend. Finally, a distinction must also be made between the spoken name of the child (for assignment) and the actual content. In the simplest case, the originator of the information can be determined via the respective login data; in advanced cases, speaker recognition can be used, for example. The backend system can be implemented on Amazon Cloud Services(AWS), for example. Relevant services for the transcription(Transcribe) of audio data and interpretation of natural language(Comprehend) are available there. Amplify , a tool for simple mobile app development, is also available there. Other or additional technical solutions are conceivable and some are already being evaluated. Examples include the Web Speech API, Alexa or implementation with Docker and deployment in a Kubernetes cluster(e.g. AWS or h_da).
The data is then made available to parents via the internet. Parents only see the data relating to their own children. The parents' end devices are, for example, cell phones with a corresponding app. Other or additional provision channels are conceivable.
Project
Scrum is to be used as the process model for agile software development. The usual development tools will be used, preferably those that are already available in the department, e.g. GIT repository, Scrum Board, etc.
The programming languages used depend, among other things, on the end devices and cloud services ultimately used. Java and/or C++ (for backend and Android devices) or Swift (for iOS) are initially suitable. The use of cross-platform technologies, e.g. Xamarin, is conceivable.
The following list is a first version of the rough project building blocks (in the agile sense, i.e. nothing is set in stone, short iteration cycles, overlapping execution):
- Requirements analysis
- Definition of the minimal viable product
- High-level architecture
- Testing of existing / proposed hardware and software / services
- Identification of technology gaps
- Closing the technology gaps
- System and software implementation
At least the following principles / requirements should be fulfilled:
- Security by design
- Privacy by design
- Scalability
- Robustness
- Internationalization
The specific scope and expansion stage of the project depend on the size of the team (number of participants) and the technical possibilities, among other things. The current expansion stage is a technical feasibility study in the form of an implementation of an end-to-end workflow with a minimal range of functions. The goal for the upcoming semester is an initial prototype implementation. It is planned to continue the project in future courses. The project is under MIT license.
Contact
Communication
Schöfferstraße 10
64295 Darmstadt
Office: D19, 2.09
+49.6151.533-60185
alexander.wiesmaier@h-da.de
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Consultation
Nach Vereinbarung / by appointment