Applications and implications

What will it do?

AutoFarm is a device that helps people to take care for plotted plants. It can be implanted in any plant pot and then it will water the plant automatically when the plant needs water.

The project will have a soil moiture sensor. It will be connected to a microcontroller that will control a servo motor which is controlling a 3d printed ball valve of a water container. When the plant needs water, the servo will open the valve to water the plant, when the soil is moist the sensor will sense that, so the microcontroller will send a signal to the servo motor to close the valve. The system will be powered by a 9v battery, and everything will be fixed on an acrylic piece that I will design and it will have vinyl parts on it for the logo and to make it look nicer.

Who has done what beforehand?

Actually I worked on a similar project with my students in a school. It was just giving a blinking LED alarm when the plat needs water, and it was done with Arduino. I want to take the project to another whole level. I want to make it as a product that anyone can buy and add to their plant pot.

There are similar project out there. One of them is this project that I found in Instructables. It is a very nice project and similar to my idea. But mine is different because as mentioned before, it will be a product that anyone can buy add easily to their plant pot. And another example is some worked with soil moiture sens in Fab Academy for the networking week. But he just collects the data from the plants using the sensor.

What materials and components will be required? Where will they come from? How much will it cost?

• A4 Vinyl - Local Supplier - $1 (To make the logo and the stickers)
• 3D printing filament PLA/PHA - colorfabb - $0.04/gram (For the valve and water container)
• A4 Acrylic sheet - Local Supplier - $5 (All the components will be fixed on it)
• Servo motor - Local Supplier - $10 (To open and close the valve)
• Soil Moisture Sensor - Local Supplier - $5 (To know the soil mousture)
• Electronics - DigiKey - $5 (To make a board with microcontroller to control the input and output devices)
• M3 screws and nuts - $1 (To fix to components on the acrylic sheet)
• 9v Battery - Local Supplier - $3 (To power the project)

What parts and systems will be made?

• The circuit board
• The body of the project will acrylic
• The logo and stickers on the acrylic with vinyl.
• The water container with 3D printing
• The valve with 3D printing

What processes will be used?

• Laser Cutting
• Vinyl Cutting
• 3D printing
• PCB milling

What tasks need to be completed?

• Designing the circuit board
• Making the circuit board
• Programming the microcontroller
• Designing the water container and printing it
• Designing the valve and printing it
• Designing the acrylic sheet and cutting it
• Designing the logo and the stickers and cutting them
• Assembling the project
• Final testing

What questions need to be answered?

• Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), this will be part of the input week. The first step will be controlling an LED with the soil moisture sensor. And when I am able to do that I will control the servo motor.
  
• Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), this will be part of the output week. After finishing the input week I need to use the signal I'm getting from the soil moisture sensor to control the servo which going to control the valve.
• Valve Designm I'm really worried about the valve design because I don't know how I'm going to make a 3D printed valve without any having leakages.

What is the schedule?

• Designing the circuit board - 1/June
• Making the circuit board - 2/June
• Programming the microcontroller - 3-4/June
• Designing the water container and printing it - 5/June
• Designing the valve and printing it - 6-7/June
• Designing the acrylic sheet and cutting it 8/June
• Designing the logo and the stickers and cutting them 9/June
• Assembling the project 10/June
• Final testing 11/June

How will it be evaluated?

My minimum project requirement is the nozzle opens when the soil is dry and the water flows to water the plant and then the nozzle closes when the soil is moist.