Drift

Inspiration

Environmental Research!! A team member does environmental research on the Nitrogen cycle, sensors are expensive, and usage is relatively involved.

What it does

Ecological Water Sensing on the Cheap!! Calculates pH levels by detecting voltage. All in a compact, water-proof, and potentially autonomous raft.

How we built it

Economical Innovation Using only a Nano Arduino, a couple of wires, an LED, some resistors, and even a pool noodle. We used the wires to read the voltage from the liquid and converted the readings to pH.

Challenges we ran into

Electronics and Water Are Not Friends The biggest issue encountered was waterproofing our device. To solve this issue 3-D printing was utilized with a hot glue gun to completely seal the hardware inside. To keep Drift afloat a pool noodle was adhered to the sides. A last minute issue became the portable battery pack shutting off every 30 seconds. To combat this we connected the wire connection for the battery outside of Drift.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our First Hack-A-Thon We are all freshman and beginner programmers, so to complete this device with our limited experience and time was exciting for us.

What we learned

Since we are only beginner programmers, we learned advanced ways to code in Arduino and deal with specific errors.

What's next for Drift

Tracking and Recording We originally planned to have a GPS in our Drift device but did not have enough time to finish programming. Another thing we hope to add is an SD card to save the pH levels detected and GPS locations. We wish to implement these additions so that Drift will produce all the necessary information to track the pH levels of a moving body of water.

Built With

• arduino