About The Class

"This class introduces students to design techniques for mechatronics systems; provides guidelines to and
experience with design of a variety of actuators; provides experience in programming microcomputers for
smart products; exposes students to the synthesis of mechanical power transfer components; develops an
understanding of dynamics and kinematics in robotic systems; exposes students to design experiences in
synthesis of feedback systems; provides experience prototyping mechatronics devices collaboratively." (taken from class syllabus)

Project

Part 1 - Teaming Activities

Before diving into this project, its crucial to know who is on your team. In order for our team to become better acquainted with one another, we created a collaborative plan where we discusses a variety of things involving goals, roles, procedures and relationships. My team consisted of 4 engineers including myself.

Part 2 - Project Pitch

After completing this section, our team was required to think of opportunities, along with their related solutions, in order to create a single pitch for our final project.

Here was my initial brainstorm, where I came up with a few opportunities to present to my team:

Automated pill dispenser
- Mostly for pharmaceutical implementation
Room temperature regulator
- Being able to control the thermostat, the windows, blinds, etc to maintain some kind of temperature in a given room
A simple/portable CNC machine
- Using stepper motors and an arduino
Home security system
- Cameras, motion detectors, lots of sensors involved
Robotic bartender
- Customizing drinks with a user-friendly interface for an autonomous drink-making system

However, after heavy discussion and delegation, we all collectively decided to focus on one specific opportunity: the difficulty to ensure proper sun/water exposure for plants.

Here is a list of some potential solutions that I came up with in order to address this opportunity: Plant biome that stays in a specific area

Walls can come down when there is sunlight and can go back up when the plant has received adequate sunlight (could also be a flexible material and pull open/closed like curtains)
Implemented water system (kind of like those refrigerator water dispensers that already have a set amount of water to give) that either can have a timer or can check the soil moisture and know when to dispense water

Plant pulley suspension system
- Connected to the ceiling, is able to pull away plants when there is too much sunlight or pull them towards the window when they need sunlight
- Maybe can even go outside when it rains to catch some of it if needed to be watered and they just pull back when they’ve had enough
Home garden automated greenhouse
Synced alarm system to phone/mobile device to let you know when the plant needs more nutrients/fertilizer/soil
- Monitors nutrients in the soil and once they go under a specific threshold, it tells you to do something about it
Automated seed planter that can help beginners learn how to have a home garden by helping them grow their plants initially, which then they can take over after (so the machine gives birth and the people raise the plants)

As a group, we came up with 6 different themes for our pitch:

Lazy-susan plant pot
1. Rotating plant pot based off of sun exposure to provide adequate sun exposure to all angles of plant
Plant pulley suspension system
1. System that has plants loaded onto it, and knows when to go outside to get natural sunlight, and is able to be reeled back in when it’s nighttime or there aren’t ideal weather conditions
  1. Takes the need away of having to select specific locations for indoor plants
  2. When it’s raining, a feature can be installed where the rainwater can be collected if there is too much rain or wind, or the plants can go outside and get the rainfall
2. Aesthetics
3. Helps keep them out of reach from pets and children
4. Can be set on a timer or linked to some kind of weather forecast so it knows when to go in and out
5. Window would have to be automated to open and close to allow the plants in and out
PTD (Plant Transportation Device)
1. A four-wheeled mobile “car” that senses when there is no sunlight being supplied to the plant and moves it to another location in the house with sunlight.
2. This would have to be able to detect objects in the house to avoid them and move across different surfaces (carpet, wood floors, etc.)
Plant tracks system
1. A track system that moves plants in-and out of a window frame to adjust the amount of sun exposure the plant has.
Garden canopy/shade system
1. Device that opens/closes a canopy if the plant is receiving too much sunlight
Grow Lamp
1. Light bulb that provides additional light for the plant

Part 3 - Shop Consultations and Reflection

While it's great to have ideas of how to create a solution, it's also important to receive consultation when it comes to feasibility and other factors that engineers may overlook when brainstorming. In our case, we received consultation from the machine shop staff located on-campus, in which we presented them our proposed project and components, parts needed, and means of manufacturing.

In our initial design, the “torque transmitter” was a part to transmit the torque from the motor drive shaft to the plant pot. Initially we had a 3-prong design with complex geometry. Because of this, our initial proposal was to 3D print this part and secure it to the drive shaft with a press-fit threaded insert (into 3D print) and set screw.

"Useful feedback from the shop team is that our “torque transmitter” was unnecessarily complex. By simplifying to a straight bar, we can machine the part much easier. Another potential issue with the 3D printed geometry is that nylon or ABS does not easily work with press-fit inserts. The last suggestion we received regarding the “torque transmitter” was to consider an off-the shelf part." (from our consultation)
"Another room for improvement was the plant pot. Our initial plan of 3D printing is difficult as the 3D print material is porous, meaning that it can not contain the water of the plant. Furthermore, chemicals from the plastic material can leak into the plant. Thus, we are going to use this part as a housing to place an already planted pot within." (from our consultation)

"After the consultation, we need to think more about material selection to balance plant safety from chemicals from the materials we choose, durability of the system, as well as the overall cost efficiency. In terms of cost-efficiency, we are currently using 4 mecanum wheels which require one DC motor each which adds up very quickly, so we are brainstorming ideas of other ways we can use linear motion in our design that would use less motors, such as a conveyor belt which only needs one driver motor. However, conveyor belts also add more complexity, so we need to find a balance between cost and functionality. Additionally, we need to redesign the motor mounts since our current design is putting unnecessary compressive forces on the motor. So instead, we will be using aluminum L-brackets bolted onto the faces of the motor to provide support, then bolting them directly into the frame." (from our consultation)

Based off of the comments and suggestions given to us from the machine shop staff, our team was able to redirect to a more concise solution.

Part 4 - Spec' It Out

This part of our project revolved around the CAD design and our project BOM where we were able to propose a realistic and complete set of parts. These exercises were designed to help us validate function-critical elements, generate a complete realistic design option, and compile a preliminary list of parts with costs.

Part 5 - Software and Subsystems

This is the stage where we were able to show off our fully-operational subsystems: motor actuation, state machine software with sensors, and moving mechanisms.

a video clip of our motors moving as desired
- Rotational Motor Moving 90 Degrees: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a37LDBr4PumLMAUulXNFmXfZX4_f-8jt/view?usp=sharing
- Rotational Motor Moving 180 Degrees: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-q-VdA18dFuSQHsF5uycn59bIyTB_gl/view?usp=sharing
- Rotational Motor Moving 270 Degrees: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tvNNd8LwWXCkwLX_zPe2toregINmZegC/view?usp=sharing
- Translational Motor: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14wZbmWdlGZhRcAlamp9QpEuJ63QQ_hAr/view?usp=sharing

state transition diagram of our machine’s behavior

state machine code written in the Arduino IDE (full code)
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/15gkiIGDAyzLF-rliWY0DAkSFXSbEZ0Hi/view?usp=drive_link
video clip demonstrating full set of behaviors
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yLaK3E9JEFgn_efgpzk6EVb0pRnn_QFq/view?usp=sharing
video clips of all key moving (articulated) mechanisms moving smoothly / as desired
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nYphqwQJDApjQeF6mFpu9nPIURXXWPV2/view?usp=sharing

And now, without further ado, here is our final project demonstration!

Feel free to look at our final project deliverable here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K33ZIfKA5FCzgW2sU9apjFx2FHsiXb8UIsurHB4thdU/edit?usp=drive_link

Botanical Buddy