Software

Here you can find all the different programs that we used as Team Steel bot to be able to develop Klevor.

Programming

Label Studio

Label Studio's Logo

Label Studio is an open-source program that helped us prepare the photos to be able to train Artificial Intelligence for the Object Detection. However, this program is not limited to this, you are able to assign tags to a wide variety of media, such as text, audio, images, videos, time series, multi-domain among many others.

In Klevor's case, this program was used to highlight where are the traffic signs in the training photos, then after training the AI model (you can do it locally or in the cloud) the model can recognize the traffic signs by itself.

Google Colab

Google Colab's Logo

As we mentioned before, an AI model has to be trained, either locally or in the cloud, Google Colab fulfills this exact functions. Google Colab is a service that allows you to execute Python code onto your own web browser, also providing free access to GPUs and TPUs that can be used online, and you can link your own Google Drive to store the files generated by the model's training.

We used this platform to train the YOLO Model mentioned before, through the use of a GPU, the Nvidia A100, which is one of the most powerful GPUs available, thanks to it, we were able to train the AI model in a relatively short time for a very low price.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code's Logo

Visual Studio Code is a software development program, with an integrated terminal, native Git support, and also supports almost every programming language, countless extensiones, and it is also fully customizable.

We used Visual Studio Code mainly on the Raspberry Pi 5, and in the lower-end team's computers, because this program is lighter than many other software development programs, like PyCharm, and it also allows the user to work with multiple programming languages, which is crucial for Klevor's development.

PyCharm

PyCharm's Logo

PyCharm is another software development program; however, this program has a lot more functionality than Visual Studio Code, however, there is a small little detail, PyCharm requires a license to use the Pro version, meanwhile Visual Studio Code doesn't need a license. Also, PyCharm is specifically an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Python, meanwhile Visual Studio Code is a more general code editor, which is why PyCharm offers more advanced characteristics, meant to be used exclusively for Python, such as the advanced debugging, the code refactoring, database integration, among many others.

We used PyCharm to check and debug Klevor's source code with ease, because this program has a lot more advanced debugging tools and code analysis, which help us spot any bugs and fix them in the most efficient way possible.

Thonny

Thonny's Logo

Thonny is another software development program, used mainly to execute code Python code directly onto microcontrollers, in our case, it waw the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, either to test code, or using it on the field. It is worth mentioning that, unlike the other software development programs mentioned before, Thonny is an IDE designed specifically for beginners in Python, which makes it easier to use and understand for those who are starting to learn the language. Also, Thonny has a much simpler and less overwhelming than PyCharm or Visual Studio Code, and also it integrates direct functionalities to work with microcontrollers, like the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W.

Design

Canva

Canva's Logo

Canva is an online design platform, which allows any user to design practically anything in 2D, we decided to use Canva mainly to design the connection diagrams and the flowcharts, as a quick and effective solution for our documentation, however as we started to design them, we realized that these diagrams were too complex and took way too long to make, so we decided to switch to other online alternatives.

Mermaid

Mermaid's Logo

After not getting the results we expected with Canva, we decided to switch to Mermaid, which an open-source program that specializes in creating diagrams with text, with a similar syntax to Markdown, to design our diagrams and flowcharts.

Draw.io

Draw.io's Logo

Draw.io is a web browser that allows the online creation of diagrams, with the added feature that multiple users can modify the same diagram at the same time, with a similar interface to Microsoft Visio, with the advantage that Draw.io is completely free and open-source. We decided to use Draw.io for the designing of diagrams and flowcharts, because this program allowed us to create more complex and more detailed diagrams, while also being easier to use than Canva.

Fusion 360

Fusion 360's Logo

Fusion 360 is a 3D design program, made by Autodesk, with this program, we were able to design the pieces we needed and export them to .stl format, with which we were able to 3D print them. It is also a very versatile program for draftsmen, engineers, manufacturers and the creation of equipment, since it has a lot of functions, like rendering, design, component weighing, PCB designing, simulations, free-form modeling, etc.

We decided to use this program because it's pretty much an "all-in-one" solution which combines computer-assisted design, manufacturing, engineering and the PCB design, which turns it into a pretty comfortable solution.

Planning

Jira

Jira's Logo

Jira is a web browser whose objective is to organize a team's tasks as assign them a priority, basically it is a work organization page.

In our case, using Jira allowed us to keep Klevor's development at a constant rate, because each member had a different tasks and a certain time to complete it, which made us able to advance in a much more efficent and organized way.