This week our focus was on fleshing out the steps we need to take for implementing our project, since the planning phase is more or less over. We also took several steps to actually put the implementation phase into motion. The following few points will entail the most important steps that our group took:

• We are delighted to share the news that EDYN, the company with which we had talks this week, has agreed to come on board our project. They will sponsor 10 sensors for us to take to India so that we can test our product there and showcase a live prototype to the cabinet of Chief Minister Naidu. We’ve already received the first sensor and we’ve currently developing a timeline for the collection of samples and subsequent testing.

• EDYN wanted us to obtain some baseline soil samples so that they could calibrate the sensors for the local soil conditions around Vizag, and we’ve started reaching out to the contacts provided to us by Professor Solomon during our meeting with him after class on Thursday in order to obtain these samples. We are also simultaneously reaching out to the university students assigned to us and other institutions in the area for the same.

• We also discussed the issue of identifying and developing distribution channels for our product during our meeting with the Professor, and that is another factor for which we’ve decided to and are in the process of reaching out to the aforementioned people based in and around Vizag.

• Finally, we’re meeting Cisco on Monday to discuss our business model with them. The business model was one of our shortcomings during the mid term proposal, and we hope to improve it significantly after our interaction with Cisco.

• We are also working on alternate accessibility channels for people who might not have access to smartphones or aren’t able to converse in English.