This week was an awesome and exciting week for Fly Bye. On Monday afternoon, the Fly Bye team drove down to Miami to present our work to our USDA liaison Dr. Barukh Rohde and the rest of the USDA team. Although we had met Dr. Rohde last week at Metro Diner, this was the first time visiting the USDA ARS station in Miami. 

During our Miami site visit, we were able to present our initial prototype to a group of USDA research scientists. We were able to show that our programmed microcontroller could take pictures of a fly on the sticker paper inside the prototype housing. Then, those photos could be processed by a ML model which can identify the species of fly on the sticky paper. We received great feedback for our prototype and presentation that we can implement in the future. Additionally, Dr. Rohde helped us clear some misconceptions on the infrared-based prototype, which will help us design a better prototype in the future.  

While we were in Miami, Dr. Rohde took us out to two delicious restaurants. It was great talking to him about his career and life, and we really enjoyed the delicious food. On Monday, it was Halloween, so  Dr. Rohde is wearing a costume. 

On the USDA site, he gave Fly Bye a tour of the facility. We drove around on a golf cart looking at all the different plants and agricultural products grown on the site. It was fun, and we had the opportunity to try some fresh fruits. We plan on making a vlog showcasing our experiences and will post that soon. 

Overall, this week was a great team and liaison bonding experience and a unique opportunity for our team to narrow our focus on the different aspects of our project.