Weekly Assignments Final Project About me Group assignments

16. Applications and Implications

To make the final project a bit more clear, these questions need to be answered:

What will it do?

The goal of my final project is to create something that solves a problem. In this case, the problem occurs in my backyard.

We have a pine tree in the backyard where there is a nest of the Pine Processionary moth. These caterpillars are very invasive and unfortunatly there are not enough predators to take care of them. So there must be a way to take care of this problem! At home and in general, we are a bit against pesticides but luckily for us (less luck for the caterpillars), there is also a very natural way to "eliminate" them. A solution is to spray a liquid= water + nematodes powder onto the nest of the caterpillars. One problem: the nest is high up in the tree. Solution: we need something that can go up in the air and spray at the same time.

Who has done what beforehand?

There are many agricultural drones that can spray. These drones are very big and expensive.

What will you design?

Something like a container that can be attached underneath a drone and can spray remote controlled.

What materials and components will be used?

What i will need is a bottle (in this case i found a pressurized spray that they use in gardens), a motor (servo), some wire, electronics (i'll need a remote and a receiver) and it all needs to work on batteries.

Where will they come from?

The bottle can be found in a garden center, the electronics will be made in the fablab and the other parts will be made with a 3D printer and vinylcutter. The batteries come from a drone that i bought second hand and are spare batteries.

How much will they cost?

The price of the bottle depends on the store but in this final project, the bottle i used was €4.39.

The electronics are made in the fablab. I need to check how much each component is worth.

The batteries are between €2 and €4 / each

The 3D printed parts need to be calculated too.

Overall, this project should remain under €80

The biggest cost is the drone but is not part of my final project.

Bill Of Materials

This is the current BOM of my project:

You can dowload the pdf

here

You can dowload the excel

here

Bill of Materials (BOM)

Item Number Part/Component Description Quantity Unit Price (€) Total Cost (€)
1 Black PLA Filament for 3D printing custom parts (85 grams) 85 grams 2.11 2.11
2 Vinyl Sticker Custom vinyl sticker for labeling 1 5.00 5.00
3 Microcontroller: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 Central control unit for the spraying mechanism 2 3.60 7.20
4 Resistors 0 Ohm Basic resistors for circuit connections 6 0.10 0.60
5 Resistors 10k Ohm Resistors for electronic circuits 4 0.10 0.40
6 Resistors 1k Ohm Resistors for electronic circuits 4 0.10 0.40
7 LED Red Red LEDs for indicators 3 0.50 1.50
8 LED Green Green LED for indicators 1 0.50 0.50
9 Voltage Regulator 3.3V Voltage regulator for power supply 2 1.00 2.00
10 Capacitors 1 µF Capacitors for electronic circuits 3 0.20 0.60
11 Button Push buttons for user input 2 1.00 2.00
12 Small Switch Small switches for controlling power and operations 5 0.50 2.50
13 Pinheader Connection 4 4-pin headers for connections 2 0.50 1.00
14 Pinheader Connection 3 3-pin header for connections 1 0.50 0.50
15 Wires Electrical wires for connections Various 5.00 5.00
16 Plastic Spray Bottle Spray bottle for holding the spraying fluid 1 4.39 4.39
17 Tubing 30 cm tube for fluid delivery 1 piece 1.00 1.00
18 Zipties Zip ties for securing components 6 0.10 0.60
19 Rubber Bands Rubber bands for securing components 6 0.10 0.60
20 Batteries Power source for the spraying mechanism (2-4€ each) 2 3.00 (avg) 6.00
21 Servo Motor Motor for controlling the spray nozzle 1 15.00 15.00

Total Estimated Cost: €67.80

What parts and systems will be made?

The remote and spray mechanism are 2 separate devices. They will each have their own design and unique code.

What processes will be used?

What questions need to be answered?

How will it be evaluated?

I believe that it meets the requirements of production processes but i am open for feedback!!

What i do miss is a type of pedestal or landing thing so that the drone can land with the bottle underneath. Now you need to "catch" the drone.