Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
28 "Don't Kill My Plant" Habit Tracker
Ben Wei
DK Ehiribe
Zade Lobo
Selva Subramaniam design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
photo1.jpg
photo2.jpg
photo3.jpeg
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
# "Don't Kill My Plant" Habit Tracker

Team Members:
- Zade Lobo (zlobo3)
- Ben Wei (btwei2)
- Dike Ehiribe (ehiribe2)

# Problem

We are trying to solve a problem that has plagued people for ages: breaking bad habits and adopting good ones. Even though humans may want to change these habits, they usually lack the willpower in order to do so.

Common solutions on the market to help people change habits include smartphone tracking apps and physical devices that track physical habits. These solutions are great for tracking, but the
There are plenty of apps and devices that help people with habit tracking, but most of them can be circumvented easily and don't hold people accountable for their actions. In addition, any positive reinforcement methods that they provide are minor and are not effective enough.

# Solution

We want to change this by bringing in emotional attachment to tangible consequences to encourage people to keep up with their habits. While positive reinforcement may not be as effective, negative punishment has also shown promising results.

"Don't Kill My Plant" is an application interface that will keep track of your habits through unforgeable data and will make the life of your plant dependent on it through hardware.

The solution we are providing is innovative by causing people to emotionally attach themselves to keeping up with good habits as well as keeping a physical and visual reminder.


# Solution Components

## Application Interface Subsystem

The application interface is a phone application that will offer multiple ways to track habit forming, including location, screentime, and message and call tracking. This allows the application to pick up on habits such as going to the gym, avoiding a coffee shop, spending too much time on social media, or messaging your family.

## Plant Enclosure Subsystem

The plant enclosure is a box with an airtight lid in order to create an isolated environment for a plant. The box itself will contain transparent walls with a method for blocking light out (either electronic tint or rolling window shades. The box will have an airtight lid that can be electronically opened and closed by the microcontroller.

## Microcontroller Subsystem

The microcontroller will be an ESP32 or ESP8266 that will pull from a server that the application interface is publishing to. This will determine the binary state of the plant enclosure system (killing or living). When the state on the server changes, then the microcontroller will control the plant enclosure subsystem to change the state of the box. The microcontroller will also allow routine watering of the plant through the irrigation system, which may be interrupted by not keeping up with habits.

## Irrigation Subsystem

The irrigation subsystem will be controlled by the microcontroller in order to routinely water the plant through the included water solenoid. The reservoir outside the plant enclosure will allow the user to input water for irrigation, but the actual water delivery will be controlled through hydraulic tubing piping it inside the system.

# Criteria For Success

- The created device system is capable of keeping a potted plant alive.
- The same device system also has the capability of killing a potted plant.
- The device can pull information from a server on habit uptime and determine the fate of the plant.
- The application interface is able to facilitate habit tracking for the user and send this information to a server.

Autonomous Sailboat

Riley Baker, Arthur Liang, Lorenzo Rodriguez Perez

Autonomous Sailboat

Featured Project

# Autonomous Sailboat

Team Members:

- Riley Baker (rileymb3)

- Lorenzo Pérez (lr12)

- Arthur Liang (chianl2)

# Problem

WRSC (World Robotic Sailing Championship) is an autonomous sailing competition that aims at stimulating the development of autonomous marine robotics. In order to make autonomous sailing more accessible, some scholars have created a generic educational design. However, these models utilize expensive and scarce autopilot systems such as the Pixhawk Flight controller.

# Solution

The goal of this project is to make an affordable, user- friendly RC sailboat that can be used as a means of learning autonomous sailing on a smaller scale. The Autonomous Sailboat will have dual mode capability, allowing the operator to switch from manual to autonomous mode where the boat will maintain its current compass heading. The boat will transmit its sensor data back to base where the operator can use it to better the autonomous mode capability and keep track of the boat’s position in the water. Amateur sailors will benefit from the “return to base” functionality provided by the autonomous system.

# Solution Components

## On-board

### Sensors

Pixhawk - Connect GPS and compass sensors to microcontroller that allows for a stable state system within the autonomous mode. A shaft decoder that serves as a wind vane sensor that we plan to attach to the head of the mast to detect wind direction and speed. A compass/accelerometer sensor and GPS to detect the position of the boat and direction of travel.

### Actuators

2 servos - one winch servo that controls the orientation of the mainsail and one that controls that orientation of the rudder

### Communication devices

5 channel 2.4 GHz receiver - A receiver that will be used to select autonomous or manual mode and will trigger orders when in manual mode.

5 channel 2.4 GHz transmitter - A transmitter that will have the ability to switch between autonomous and manual mode. It will also transfer servos movements when in manual mode.

### Power

LiPo battery

## Ground control

Microcontroller - A microcontroller that records sensor output and servo settings for radio control and autonomous modes. Software on microcontroller processes the sensor input and determines the optimum rudder and sail winch servo settings needed to maintain a prescribed course for the given wind direction.

# Criterion For Success

1. Implement dual mode capability

2. Boat can maintain a given compass heading after being switched to autonomous mode and incorporates a “return to base” feature that returns the sailboat back to its starting position

3. Boat can record and transmit servo, sensor, and position data back to base

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