Project development

Questions to be answered

What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?

• ✓ CAD design(2D & 3D) check stage 4 for this
• ✓ Subtractive manufacturing check stage 4 for this
• ✓ Additive manufacturing check stage 4 for this
• ✓ Electronics design & production check stage 3 for this
• ✓ Programming check stage 2 for this
• ✓ Interface development check stage 5 for this
• ✓ System Integration check stage 6 for this
• I still need to make the final structure at home with better materials, for now here in germany I am using MDF for the structure as this is not something that I can take with me back to Portugal, so for the sake of sustainability I will make the final structure at home
• Although I have a web interface, I plan to make it look better and more user friendly. Currently, there is a simple table where I can input the different cat names, a schedule for each cat for two meals a day, and also the quantity dispensed. Finally, for it to be even more modular, there is a little checklist at the end of each table to check if this cat house is active and should be fed.

What has worked? What hasn't?

Since I am writing this after my final project presentation, in general everything works. The web interface communicates with the ESP and controls the feeding schedules. However, there are some bugs in the code that need to be fixed but do not impede the functionality of the overall program. One of the bugs is related to the RTC. The time displayed by the RTC is not the correct time, sometimes it says it's 1970s.

Something else I can try to improve is the range of the RFID reader. Previously, I even tried to make my own antenna, but the ranges I got were either very low or around the same as the original antenna. So, this is something I can try to improve in the future. I've also read that maybe there is some type of code modification that can be done to improve the range of the RFID reader. I don't want to buy a different type of sensor like a vicinity sensor because these cost almost double the price of the RFID reader, and it would defeat the purpose of the project because each cat house would cost a lot more.

Another improvement that can be done in the future is getting a different type of power supply. The one I am using is quite loud and inefficient (because of the time constraint, I used this because it was what we had at the lab). Perhaps recycling a PSU from an old computer would work. These are more silent and efficient. There is quite a bit of information on this online, even from turning one into a bench power supply. Check the final project pages for more information in the future in case I do this.

Lastly, I also plan on designing a new board, and maybe even investigating the possibility of using a different type of microcontroller because the ESP32 S3 has been causing me some trouble with the pins.

What questions need to be resolved?

• How can I improve the range of the RFID reader?
• How can I improve the power supply?
• How can I improve the web interface?
• Will my cats actually use this?
What will happen when?

I made a ghatt chart for the final weeks leading up to the final project presentation. however I am not great at following it, and some tasks were made simultaneously. and so evereything kind of blended together. another challange I had with following any type of schedule is that there were a lot of unknown varibales that I could not account for, like bugs in the code, problems with the wiring and so on, that would take me a lot longer to fix than I had planned for.



To try and fix this, I made a list of all the tasks that needed to be done, and then I would try to do them in order of importance. As I went along, I would move the tasks around. Green indicates completed tasks, blue indicates tasks that are halfway done, orange indicates tasks in progress, and red indicates tasks that have not been started or are missing.

What have you learned?
• Everything ;P
• I have learned a lot regarding C++ and programming in general. I've learned how to navigate the Arduino environment and now the more complex PlatformIO environment, how to separate and organize code better.
• In general, I've learned a lot about digital fabrication, but also a lot about time management and how to deal with stress and unexpected problems. This is something that I will take with me for the rest of my life and am still learning how to deal with. I've also learned how to balance working on a project and having a life outside of it. These past six months, I have basically been living in the lab (although I have enjoyed it a lot), but towards the end, I started to find a balance between Fab Academy and my personal life (Fab Academy was still my priority though, and I still spent the whole day in the lab ;P).