Gardener

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  Set up

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  stepper motor drive

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  SMPS

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  water pump + mega + relay

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  so called curtain

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  woohoo

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  Behind the scenes 01 [ Setting up stepper motor ]

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  Behind the scenes 02 [ Drilling the rod ]

Inspiration

Biology was always a part of me, recently I had to choose subjects for my 11th and 12th grade which was stressful because I HAD to quit Biology to pursue my career in STEM.

Noticing the plants in my uncles office desk and discussing about it with him for a while we realized I had the option to make a robot which can help these plants survive! because my uncles main worry was not being able to be in the office the whole time due to his busy travelling schedule, which is nothing but Biology all over again! so I was really happy to also include Biology in my STEM related projects.

What it does

My bot, waters your plants once every 6 hours for a certain amount of time ( let's say 5 seconds ) and then it also opens the curtains to sun light to enter which is also time operated.

How we built it

I have used a 4 channel relay and I have connected it to an Arduino mega, and then I have used the water pump ( for fish tanks ) and cut the cable into two and cut the cable jacket of it in the ends and I have twisted the copper wire, using a Cable splice I have made them connected. We took a tube which was unfortunately bigger than the air hole in the Pump hence I had to heat it and make it fit because I didn't have time to buy a perfect tube, I placed the pump in the water tank filling it with water, and uploaded my code, yay! it worked. Now I had to make the curtains which I had to take external help for because it had dangerous materials being used like a driller, we drilled a metal rod to make my Stepper motor sit and we connected that to my stepper motor drive and then to my SMPS to build it to 24volts. Now that that's done we just had to upload the code and fix the curtain. I have used Arduino mostly! making things more precise I have used : Arduino mega, 4 channel Relay (Arduino ) , Water pump ( for fish tanks ), Stepper motor, Stepper motor drive, SMPS, Arduino Code ,Cable splicer, Screws / cables / nuts / bolts / cloth / drilling tools / metals / tubes...etc

Challenges we ran into

I was really stressed out because, I wanted my project to be doing its job on time for which I needed a RCP module but I did not have the time or energy to buy it hence I had to cram on ways I could make it do it's work on time but I did it!

working out with the SMPS and the step up motors were a pain in the butt because I have no previous knowledge about mechanical items, the only project which I did in Arduino was making an LED glow which is obviously not enough skill set for making such a big project right now ( comparatively ) hence I really had to do a lot of home work in a very short period of time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm really proud that I was able to learn and carry out a working model of something I imagined, it's really amazing to see something which you visualized or sketched to come into play or show productivity.

What we learned

I've actually learned a plethora because of this project of mine, I've learnt more about Arduino the coding and of course the tiring area of cutting the cable jacket ( which I hated the most )

What's next for Gardener

Well from what I know, this project is going to remain without being dismantled so my uncle could live a office life with cool plants around him without being stressed about it dying. Though this project is just a prototype that means that I didn't have the time to make bigger curtains or connect it to the actual curtain, hence after this I would connect this to the actual curtain! Arduino and the components will be switched and it will be PLC based.

Built With

• arduino
• other