Urban Green. Accessible Produce for the Modern World Mike Foo Eric Ganzert Tim Horita Anita Khoshnavaz Mahbod Tork-Tatari April 15, 2016

Transcription

1 Urban Green Accessible Produce for the Modern World Mike Foo Eric Ganzert Tim Horita Anita Khoshnavaz Mahbod Tork-Tatari April 15, 2016

2 Presentation Overview Motivation & Background Overview Team Roles Budget & Funding Business Case Problems Encountered Timeline Skills Development Acknowledgements Questions

3 Motivation and Background Urban Green s EcoGarden is a fully automated indoor produce growing system. It has the following features: Aeroponic watering system Adjustable control of: Temperature Humidity Sunlight hours per day Can grow plants up to 2 in height Sealed enclosure; no mess Display screen feedback

4 Product Need Many people have limited access to fresh healthy produce Urban Centers Climate not conducive for farming Remote location Prohibitive cost and availability of healthy produce contribute to Diabetes Heart disease Obesity Low energy: after meal crash

5 High Level Overview

6 Team Roles To improve productivity, the team was structured into four major roles. 1) Research and development (R&D) Research all necessary information for the completion of the project Design the systems to fill all functional and design specifications Document the research and design process 2) Fabrication Manufacture all mechanical and electrical components of the main enclosure Manufacture the control panel Test system for any mechanical or electrical design failures 3) Software development Design and develop software Debug and troubleshoot any issues in the code Write all necessary documentation 4) Support Purchasing

7 Team Roles In the following areas all members contributed equally: Documentation, System Design, Research, Purchasing Enclosure & Watering System Construction Eric Electrical Installation & Wiring Eric, Mike, Tim Control Panel Construction Mike, Tim, Anita Software Design Eric, Mike

8 Budget and Funding Expenditure Breakdown Sources of Funding Original budget estimate: ~$750

9 Market Currently in Canada & the US ~275 million people live in urban environments[1][2] Limiting financial viability to the top 10% still almost 30 million consumers Consumers in extreme climates Unskilled gardeners Potential laboratory applications

10 Competition aerogarden.com aeroponics.com supecloset.com aerofarms.com

11 Pricing It cost us ~$760, but we believe if re-done we would be able to reduce that amount If we were manufacturing on a larger scale we believe that we could get our per unit cost to almost $500 Similar products go for $ We could go below, to ~$1700 and still make $1200 per unit

12 Problems Encountered First Design Expensive Complicated Difficult to install misting valves Challenging to source all required components Final Design Professional advice Straightforward construction One stop shop About $150 cheaper

13 Problems Encountered Early Design Ambitious but problematic Serial communication Python and C mismatch Increased production cost Final Design Much simpler for design and end user Touch screen replaced by slider controls Runs exclusively on Arduino

14 Project Timeline Initially estimated timeline Final timeline

15 Skills Developed Hardware Software AC and DC wiring standards Woodworking and fabrication Compatibility of electronic devices Sourcing and purchasing of materials Multiple iterations: testing and re-evaluating design Coding in Python and C Arduino digital and analog inputs/outputs Retrieve sensor data Avoiding loop delays Display screen programming Providing real time feedback to display

16 Did we reach our goals? Goals Reached (Most) Control software functional and efficient Actuators installed Successfully reading sensor Display screen feedback Watering system implemented Enclosure construction successful Goals Not Reached Smartphone connectivity not enabled Webcam not implemented Touchscreen not added to the control panel We didn t feel that these features were essential to the base model

17 Summary/Conclusion Beneficial Allow for more people to grow their own produce regardless of environment Provide a controlled growing environment, good for research or for new gardeners Future Plans Create more elaborate user interface Reduce production costs Design different models for different price points

18 Acknowledgements Funders TA s ESSEF Fund Soroush Haeri Mona Rahbar Hsiu Yang Tseng ENSC 305/440 Professors Steve Whitmore Andrew Rawicz Miscallaneous Advising Gary Shum Mike Sjoerdsma Marek Syrzycki Hydroponics store employees

19 References [1] Statistics Canada. (2011, February 4). Population, urban and rural, by province and territory [Online]. Available: [2] United States Census Bureau. (2010). FAQ [Online]. Available:

20 Questions?

21 Control System Demo

22 Full System Demo