Inspiration
Climate change is becoming an increasingly important topic related to sustainability, and many people associate it fully with the use of fossil fuels in our daily lives. However, a lesser known, yet equally important factor, is soil erosion through overfarming. Overfarming, or the planting of crops without letting the soil heal, contributes to soil degradation, destroying nearby habitats. This is especially prevalent in amateur, or beginner farmers. These natural habitats are both a sources of biodiverse life and an area that slows the rate of climate change. As a result, SproutLad was created; using a mix of cutting edge technology, the innovation helps automate the farming process, keeping the soil healthy, happy, and helpful to our world.
What it does
SproutLad uses Raspberry Pi to connect many different functions together. The temperature, humidity, and moisture sensors all help detect the "perfect" time to deploy water, which ideally, is done through a sprinkler connected to a hose. The client is able to set the preferred time between waterings and the maximum temperature before watering, which is done through communication between the RPI and the computer.
How we built it
It uses Raspberry Pi sensors to take all readings and displays everything through an LCD. It uses sockets in Python are used for rPi to send data to another computer, which connects to a front end that displays the website. We were unable to get a water pump, so we devised a system that would pour water into the plant whenever possible. Using VEX parts, we held a cup off the ground and had it pivot into the plants using a stepping motor.
Challenges we ran into
As beginner programmers, a lot of our challenges stemmed from lack of experience. We had experience with programming languages, but none of it was professional, nor did we have experience with a raspberry pi or Python sockets. Overall, we had to compromise on certain aspects (such as the water pump design and the layout of the front end), but we accomplished so much more in this project.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of being able to get this far in general for our first hackathon. We are especially proud of connecting the Rapsberry Pi to the computer, which was the hardest part.
What we learned
Throughout this hackathon, both Dhruv and I learned a lot about both engineering and hackathons in general. We had to think of a simpler design that could still perform the same functionality in 36 hours, challenging our engineering ability. We also learning about electrical engineering and computer science, including sockets, front- end development, back-end development, and various parts of mechanical engineering, through the use of a Raspberry Pi, which both of us were not familiar with. Because this is our first hackathon, and we are beginner "hackers", we experienced the time stress that goes into a hackathon. We initially believed 36 hours to be plenty of time to design a new invention, but the 36 hours given was soon discovered to be a very short period of time. We also learned about the importance of teamwork and communication, skills that are crucial in todays workforce.
What's next for SproutLad
This hackathon opened the door to continuing the design of SproutLad. In the future, we plan on adding the functionality to retrieve and replant seeds, so it can be completely automated. We also plan on adding different watering and temperature settings for different plants, mitigating work needed by the client.
Beginner Eligibility
This is our first hackathon, and our only experience for code comes from being self taught.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.