Project development

What is the deadline? How much time do I have left?

The deadline is 14-6-2017, I have 6 more days to finish

What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?

Completed

Remaining

How will I complete the remaining tasks in time?

Yes I will be able to finish them on time because I already have an idea about how the project is going to look like and I have started working on some of the designs, the container and the logo and stickers.

I'm very happy that the cardboard prototype is working well. I made three version with cardboard, the first I did was very fast, the second one I made with very weak cardboard, but the third one I think it will be the base that I will work on to make the final design. More detals will explained about the prototypes will be explained in my final project page. The next step for the project body is to cut the design in MDF and then finalize it to cut it in acrylic.

I started working on the logo and sticker concept but I need to finalize the work and take decisions. The only part I'm worried about is the valve. I'm thinking of making a ball valve with 3D printer. I will in the internet for ball valve designs, another option I have is buying a valve and then make a 3D printed part than can link it to the servo motor so I can open and close the valve. But till now I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

What has worked?

I didn't have any problem working on the circuit board, as what I did is working on the hello.servo.44.cad and then I added to things on it. I added to the board two thing. Soil moisture sensor, and an LED to debug.

I had some difficulties programming ADC but finally I figured it out, and I was able to turn an LED ON/OFF depending on the values I get from the soil moisture sensor. The next step was learing PWM to contorl servo motor and then make the servo movement dependent on the value I get from the soil moisture sensor and I finished this step. So, now I'm reading work on the hardware of the project.

What hasn't?

Everything is working, till now.

What questions still need to be resolved?

As I mentioned before the biggest issue I have now is the valve and I need to find a solution for it. I need to find a way to control the water flow. I mentioned before that I have two ways in my mind now to make the valve. I'm also considering using a pump but this will change that project idea. Because what I want to do is a compact project. I must solve this problem in the these days.

Also another thing in my mind is, I need to make sure that the water container is water tight, so I need to have a thick wall. Another thing I need to take care of is the water container nozzle, I need to know the size. I want to make it as small as I can because I want the water flow to be slow. But I have a limitation which the 3D printer capabilities. So when I make the design I need make sure that the 3D printer will be able to print it.

What have you learned?

I learned a lot till now. I learned how important it is to make a fast, easy to make prototype. This helps a lot in solving the problems and know them in early stages, without waasting a lot of time designing.

Also, I learned two important thing which are ADC, and PWM. I used to use in them with Arduino IDE, but now I understand what is under the hood. Thanks for Francisco because he encouraged me to do that and helped me to learn.