For this week's assignment, It was required to It was required to work as a team, design a machine (1st week) and Automate it (2nd week).
To kick off with the the task, we had a long brainstorming session on what machine we can do. Our team has diverse backgrounds and interests, which actually made the brainstorming session interesting! :D
Several ideas were suggested.. like:
To take the decision, we started looking around. We wanted to do the task and do something meaningful in same time.
Meanwhile, Our lab has a wide garden in the backyard that needs continous care whether seeding to plant or watering, yet nobody, out of busyness, is capable of handling it well. Moreover, people always look for how to water their plants while they are away; causing a real issue if they can't find someone who looks after them.
So, we decided to go for, Farming Machine.
Following the simple steps to design an Engineering project (in picture below), we tried to set the requirements for our machine. We came up with few for the prototype:
For the machine, we divided the work between 5 main modules and assigned sub-teams to work on each module; These Modules are:
1. Chasé and machine base design.
2. End Effectors design.
3. Electronics and Programming (in the machine design week).
4. Fabrication, Assembly and testing (Done by the whole group).
5. Documentation and team follow up.
So, for my part of the project, I participated in the following:
For the design, I used Fusion 360. The structure was simple. It's a hollow ring with hole at the bottom to allow the water to gow through it and then water the seed.
For the water hose, we used a ready made design from thingiverse (For standarization), you can find it here. Yet, the connection between the 2 parts is yet to be made.
After finalizing a great teamwork effort in designing, controlling and assembly, you can check our machine on our Lab Page.
Happy Farming! :)