Week 1 (Outside Lab) - Developing Design Proposal

Figure 1. Left: Michelle and Parmpuneet working on the design proposal. Right: The list of materials.

The team met to discuss and deliberate on further details of the PlantParent design. At this point, the team decided to pursue the idea of creating a cross-platform app that would allow the consumer to easily customize the PlantParent settings (how much water the plants need, how long to go between watering) without having to reprogram the Arduino board directly. Currently, the plan is to download, learn, and use the free version of Qt, a framework for application and user-interface development.

The team also came up with a preliminary list of required materials in order to draw up a more detailed budget for the design proposal, including an electronic breadboard, circuit wires, an aquarium pump, and various other elements. An in-progress list can be seen in Figure 1.

Week 1 (In Lab) - Further Brainstorming and Research

Having chosen a plant watering system as the intended product design, the team conducted research on existing systems and began the process of creating an original design. 

The important aspects of the intended design are as follows:

1. Rather than using a simple timer system, this plant watering system will utilize an Arduino board (a programmable microcontroller) as its control.
2. The product will be aesthetically pleasing, since it is for consumer use. No circuit boards or motors should be visible in the final product. 
3. The system will be able to support up to 3 plants. 

The basic intended structure of the system is laid out in Figure 1. The Arduino control system communicates with the pump, which responds to the Arduino commands and pumps water from the reservoir through plastic tubing into the plant's soil. 

Figure 1. Basic structure of plant watering system.

A preliminary budget of $60 was decided upon in this time-frame, and the team also began to consider their design constraints, as well as steps that need to be taken in order to fill in some gaps in the members' technical knowledge. These will be elaborated on in more detail once a formal design proposal has been finalized. 

Week 1 (Outside Lab) - Preliminary Brainstorming

Figure 1. Some brainstorming drawings.

The design team got together before the first lab in order to choose a product design after assessing personal skills, personal preferences, and available resources. Several original ideas were evaluated and eventually set aside for various reasons, including a toothpaste-generating toothbrush, transition windows (self-tinting), and a solar-powered portable phone charger (some of these can be seen in Figure 1). The team then decided to choose from one of the preset options, which are listed below:

• An automatic pet feeder
• This option was dismissed due to its simplicity, since the team desired a challenge.
• A cordless hair dryer
• This option was dismissed due to its complexity (as none of the team members are familiar enough with mechanical and electrical parts to be able to reasonably tackle this project).
• An ice-cube maker that delivers 1-2 extra cold, extra clear ice cubes every fifteen minutes
• This option was also dismissed due to its complexity. 
• An automatic plant watering system
• The team chose this option, which appeared to be the one most suited to all individual members, being both a challenge and a reasonable possibility.