Week 1

My goals for my final project stemmed from a few core motivations of mine, which I hoped to pursue throughout the semester. My project criteria had to fulfill:

• Fully integrated system involving manufacturing, electronics, and programming to develop skills across engineering disciplines.
• Relevant to the outdoors to deepen my relationship to the natural world.
• Solve a problem / obstacle in one of my communities to improve everyday life.
• Applicable to my family to demonstrate how much their unwavering academic support has enabled me to learn.
• Most importantly: knowledge that I can carry with me after college to pursue in my free time and finally become a maker.

This blend of requirements inspired me to pursue my possible final project: a fully automated gardening system in my front yard.

Through this project, I would 1. build a full stack system involving machining, electronics, and controls software, 2. learn about plants and their biology, 3. improve my neighborhood's charm, 4. collaborate with my parents as they are simulatenously building a garden of their own, and 5. learn how to attempt home improvement projects which I can pursue for a very long time.

To illustrate how dire the situation was at our front yard, here is a picture showcasing how depressing it currently looks:

As a total beginner in gardening, I spent the first part of this project using my good friend Google. The areas I focused on were:

• Perennial vs annual plants
• Ornamental vs crop vegetation
• Boston-area weather patterns including humidity, temperature, rainfall, and sunlight
• Watering requirements for plants
• Vegetation maintenance including fertilizing, trimming, and weeding

I also decided to undertake more "boots on the ground" detective work by taking a nice walk around the block to draw inspiration from my neighbors. Here are my favorite examples to strive for this semester:

In addition to bushes, trees, and shrubs, I found this arrangement of flowers to be very cool!

There were many home DIY gardening projects available online to reference. The majority used soaker hose as a method of irrigation attached to the home water supply. Soaker hose consists of a porous material that uniformly releases moisture along its length. The hose is strung along the garden and root beds and activated via a solenoid valve.

Neighbor yards also have ornamental steel fences lining the edge of the garden which I found to be very sleek. Depending on my confidence level with molding, casting, and welding, I could attempt to design a fence around the yard as well.

I think adding a bird feeder mechanism would help spruce up the garden and enrich the biodiversity of the area. The wooden feeder could be milled and screwed into the tree. The control panel for electronics could also be added right beneath for protection from rain and snow.

The last mechanical addition I wanted to try was a gravel path in the center that led to the picnic table. This would hopefully reduce foot traffic on the growing plants and add a chic look to the yard.

The core concept of this garden is that it is fully automated and requires limited maintenance, perhaps once a year for some trimming.

This requires an electronic irrigation mechanism powered by via microcontroller and sensors. Moisture sensors in the soil could provide information on humidity and indicate the microcontroller to open the solenoid valve. This would allow the soaker hose to water the garden at regular intervals and drought periods.

Additional sensors include photoresistors for sunlight detection, temperature sensors, and flow sensors for leak or failure detection. The photoresistors could also be used to turn on string lights hung above the picnic table for when it gets dark. The bird feeder could also have motion sensors to time the dispensing of seeds for wildlife.

The programming logic required could be kept quite simple: when the moisture level falls below a threshold, the valve is opened and the garden is watered for a set interval. Similarly, the lights can come on at a given darkness and the bird feeder could dispense food when motion is recognized.

I utilized Notability to make a sketch for my planned garden layout. I focused on flower ornaments for the gravel pathway, and strong brushes lining the fence for durability.

Fusion software helped me visualize my bird feeder design and understand the parameters I would have to work with given available sensors. The project did not have extensive CAD potential given the heavier electronics & programming workload.

I am hoping this garden project comes to fruition (no pun intended :). This would challenge me technically, give me a sense of fulfillment by helping my community, and teach me about nature and plant nourishment. Depending on bureaucratic procedures with contractors / landlords / local government this project could involve more paperwork than desired. I still believe it is worth it and so I really want to give it a shot!