This week, we presented our Preliminary Design Report draft to our peers and made great progress in our project.

On Tuesday, we presented our full PDR draft presentation to our peers, including Team Gearware and Team Multivision. We were able to see their presentations and learn a lot from them! We really enjoyed Team Gearware’s mockups of their final product, and we found Team Multivision’s project to be interesting and very well explained. We were able to get feedback from our peers on our presentation, which will help us prepare for our actual presentation next week. Based on our peers’ and coach’s feedback, we’ll continue to refine our presentation and report.

For our project, the biological engineering team has been hard at work to find data sources that could be used in our risk report model. This week, the work is finally paying off, as they have found a few very relevant data sources that will allow the project to move onto the next steps. The CS team can now take that data and begin to incorporate it into the model, meaning we are closer to starting to make real risk predictions! Be sure to check back to see how our model progresses.

This week we continued with the development of our project and began our preliminary design report.

In class, we learned from an informative presentation about project elevator pitches, which will help us in our preliminary design report presentation. We were able to develop our own elevator pitch for our project, and we listened to and gave feedback on other groups’ pitches.

This week, our teams continued to research and become familiar with the software we will be using in the project. We also developed a high level architecture diagram for our project, which gives us and our sponsors an overview of our plans. Additionally, the biological engineering section of the team continued to research for relevant data to put into our risk report service. Having a multitude of data will ensure that our model is as accurate as possible.

During our meeting, we set a date for our PDR presentation with Terraview. Check back on October 21st to see how it went!

As September draws to a close, team Grape Expectations wants to take this time to reflect on our first month in IPPD. We have accomplished a lot this month! From starting off not knowing which team we would join to having a semester-long plan ready to go, this month has been full of great growth and learning opportunities. We have developed so much as a team in this short time and are excited to keep working on this project!

This week we completed our first minor report. It included everything the team had done, including our initial analysis of the scope of work, the requirements and specifications we developed, and our plan for the rest of the semester. In talking to our coaches and liaisons, we have a solid plan set out for the rest of the semester, and are hopeful about having a functional prototype by December! For now, we will continue to gather data and practice with the development environment to get closer to our goal.

On our own and in meetings this week, we were able to make good progress. The biological engineers of the team have been working on collecting data about smoke and about previous wildfires. This data will be able to inform our model so that it can make better predictions. The computer science team continued working with the development environment tools and are becoming more familiar with the software that the Terraview development team uses.

Grape Expectations had a productive week! In class this week, we were able to discuss the combination of concepts we may want to include in our project. We will continue to weigh the pros and cons of each component of the model in order to develop a product that meets all of the specifications set out for us. We also took headshots and perfected our personal bios. Read more about the team at this link!

During our coach and liaison meetings, we were able to further discuss our concept ideas and determine which ones would be most applicable for the project and for our clients. The team has been conducting research in order to progress towards a functioning model. The biological engineers have been studying fire and smoke events, and have been diving deep into the effects of smoke on grapes and wine. The computer science members have been researching different types of models and software platforms in order to become familiar with new software to form a prototype. As we near the end of our first month with this project, we will continue to research, revise our ideas, and work towards a functioning prototype.

Image credit: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/california-wildfires-wine-vineyards-grapes-taste-napa-valley-air-quality-b575488.html

This week, we presented our final team name and logo, continued meeting with our coaches and sponsors, and started gathering data sources for our model.

During class, we presented our team name and logo, along with a short description of how we came up with the name and design. We took inspiration from Terraview’s Vine Click app for our logo, and our classmates seemed to enjoy our design and the thought that went into it! Additionally, we began the concept generation process in class with a brainstorming activity that helped all of the team members get onto the same page for our vision.

During our meetings with our sponsors and coaches this week, we finalized our Product Design and Specifications report, and also refined our understanding of the project. The most helpful part of the Product Design and Specifications assignment was that it allowed our team to hone in on the requirements of the project. Although our product will not be a physical item, we were able to come up with metrics to determine whether we will have satisfied the requirements. Our liaison was very helpful in this process, as he talked through the document with us and ensured that all of the requirements were accurate and accounted for.

After discussing the requirements with our coach and liaison and brainstorming concepts ourselves, the team feels confident as we begin the groundwork for the project. We have been researching data sources and creating the frameworks for our model, and we will continue preliminary research and design work in the upcoming week.

This week, Grape Expectations was able to refine our understanding of the project, speak with liaisons and our coach, and begin preliminary research!

Our team was incredibly excited to meet members of the Terraview team. Terraview employees are spread across the globe, so it was great to be able to have everyone in one meeting this week! Our team was able to ask clarifying questions and receive informative and helpful answers from Terraview’s CTO, Head of Innovation, Senior VP of Data Science & Security, Head of Data Science & Analytics, and other members of the team.

In speaking with our faculty coach and further studying the SOW, team Grape Expectations feels confident in the project objectives and is ready to get started!

Our preliminary research has consisted of general data searching and literature reviews. We are starting out by looking for information straight from the source — the winegrowers themselves! As we continue our research, we will be relying on the very people we hope to assist with this product; it really feels full-circle for us.

Finally, we have revised our logo! The image at the top of this post is the final version of Grape Expectations, and we’re really happy with how it turned out!

Hello everyone! We are Team 9, better known as Grape Expectations. Our name comes from our project’s roots in the viticulture industry, and alludes to our data science and risk prediction and management functionalities. We are excited to begin working with our parent company, Terraview! The goal of this year’s project is to prevent grapevine yield losses due to both typical weather patterns and predictable events, as well as due to unpredictable disasters. By informing grape growers of potential hazards to their yields, we hope to keep the wine industry booming!

This week, we were introduced to our project and the overall scope of work, and have begun to devise a plan for tackling different components of the project. We have also delegated leadership roles among our team. Initial meetings with our liaison and faculty coach went well, and learning more about the project directly from the company itself was an invaluable experience. Overall, we are so excited to be working on this project over the upcoming year, and we can’t wait to get started!