Week 19: Invention, Intellectual Property and Income
Final Project: OrquiWall Smart System
Assignment Objective
For this week I focused on communicating my final project as an invention and as a documented Fab Academy development process. The assignment asks me to define how I will share my work, identify future opportunities for the project, and summarize the essence of the development in a clear way for other people to understand what I made and why it matters.
| Fab Academy Requirement | How I Addressed It |
|---|---|
| Develop a plan to share your work | I defined how the project will be published, licensed, presented, and shared with the Fab Academy community and Industrial FabLab UCuenca. |
| Formulate future opportunities and/or development for your final project | I described possible improvements, use cases, and development paths for OrquiWall as an educational, biophilic, and smart gardening prototype. |
| Summarise and communicate the essence of your project development | I summarized the technical and conceptual core of the project: a digitally fabricated orchid care system that integrates structure, electronics, sensing, movement, and irrigation. |
Project Summary
OrquiWall Smart System is my final project: a smart orchid wall module that integrates digital fabrication, electronics, embedded programming, mechanical movement, sensing, and plant care. The invention is not only a pot or an irrigation system; it is a complete bio-digital object designed for biophilic interiors.
What Is the Invention?
The invention is an integrated orchid care module for wall or vertical display contexts. It combines an organic-looking MDF sliced frame with a motorized system, a custom PCB, a humidity sensor, an LCD interface, a water reservoir, and a 3D printed orchid pot.
| Innovation Area | Project Contribution |
|---|---|
| Biophilic design | Turns a technical system into a visible interior object for orchid care. |
| Digital fabrication | Uses laser cutting, Slicer for Fusion 360, 3D printing, and fiber laser PCB production. |
| Integrated electronics | Connects sensing, display, motor control, and wiring in a custom board and case. |
| Mechanical design | Uses stepper motor, 40 cm lead screw, bearing, and printed supports for movement validation. |
| Plant care | Tests orchid presentation, humidity sensing, and irrigation-reservoir logic. |
Develop a Plan to Share My Work
I plan to share OrquiWall as an open academic prototype. My main goal is that another student, maker, or FabLab instructor can understand the complete process: why I designed it, which machines I used, how each part was fabricated, and what still needs improvement before it becomes a more reliable product.
| Sharing Channel | What I Will Share | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Fab Academy website | Complete documentation, process photos, videos, bill of materials, downloadable files, source code, and final presentation files. | Make the full development process visible and reproducible for evaluation and future students. |
| Industrial FabLab UCuenca | Prototype demonstration, fabrication workflow, and lessons learned from integrating MDF, PLA, PCB production, and mechanical movement. | Use the project as a local case study for smart gardening and biophilic digital fabrication. |
| Final presentation | Slide, video, project summary, and working prototype evidence. | Communicate the essence of the project in a short and understandable format. |
| Future workshops | Simplified files, assembly steps, and electronics diagrams. | Transform the project into a learning activity about integrated digital fabrication. |
Intellectual Property Strategy
The project is intended to be open for learning and reproduction while keeping attribution to the author. A Creative Commons license is appropriate for documentation, while fabrication files and code can be shared with attribution and non-commercial reuse.
| Project Element | Suggested License | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation and images | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | Allows sharing and adaptation with attribution, non-commercial use, and share-alike terms. |
| Design files | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | Supports academic reuse and remixing while protecting commercial exploitation. |
| Code | MIT-style educational release | Simple reuse for testing and learning, with author attribution. |
| Brand / project name | Author attribution | OrquiWall Smart System remains identified as my Fab Academy project. |
Future Opportunities and Development
At this stage, OrquiWall is a functional Fab Academy prototype, not a finished commercial product. However, I can see several future opportunities because the project combines plant care, digital fabrication, electronics, and interior design. The next version should focus on reliability, waterproofing, easier assembly, and long-term testing with real orchids.
| Possible Model | Description | Next Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Educational kit | Kit for learning digital fabrication, electronics, and plant automation. | Simplify assembly and create instructions. |
| Interior design module | Biophilic wall object for homes, offices, or labs. | Improve finish, safety, waterproofing, and reliability. |
| FabLab workshop | Workshop where users fabricate a smart plant module. | Reduce part count and standardize files. |
| Custom installation | Adaptable orchid or plant wall system. | Develop modular scaling and professional mounting. |
Development Roadmap
| Stage | Development Goal | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Prototype 2 | Improve the wiring case, cable routing, waterproof separation, and mechanical supports. | Make the system safer and easier to maintain. |
| Electronics refinement | Design a more compact PCB with clearer connectors and improved power distribution. | Reduce wiring errors and make assembly faster. |
| Plant care validation | Test irrigation timing, humidity values, and orchid response over a longer period. | Validate that the system is useful for real plant care, not only as a mechanical demonstration. |
| Design refinement | Improve the surface finish of the MDF frame, the printed reservoir, and the visible user interface. | Make the object more appropriate for interiors and exhibition. |
Summarise and Communicate the Essence of My Project Development
The essence of my project is the integration of living material and digital fabrication. I wanted to build a system that does more than hold an orchid: it senses conditions, displays information, moves mechanically, stores water, and presents the plant inside a designed frame. Through the final project I learned how difficult and important integration is, because every part affects the others: the frame size affects the mechanism, the pot affects the reservoir, the cables affect the case, and the electronics affect the final assembly.
My final project development can be summarized in three ideas:
| Idea | How It Appears in OrquiWall |
|---|---|
| Digital fabrication as a system | I used laser cutting, 3D printing, PCB fabrication, CAD, and Slicer workflows to make parts that had to work together. |
| Biophilic technology | The project connects electronics and mechanics with plant care, using an orchid as the central living element. |
| Learning through integration | The most important lesson was not one isolated machine process, but the coordination of structure, movement, sensing, display, and irrigation. |
Project Completion Status
| System Layer | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Frame | Fabricated and assembled | MDF sliced framework and press-fit construction. |
| Pot and reservoir | Printed and tested | PLA pot, red reservoir, orchid presentation. |
| Electronics | Designed and fabricated | KiCad PCB, fiber laser traces, soldering, continuity tests. |
| Mechanism | Prototype tested | Stepper motor, lead screw, bearing, printed supports. |
| Integration | Final prototype assembled | Final test image and video with irrigation demonstration. |
Remaining Work
- Improve water sealing and long-term humidity protection for electronics.
- Design a cleaner final enclosure for cables and power supply.
- Refine the movement system for smoother operation and less friction.
- Improve surface finish of 3D printed parts and MDF edges.
- Test the system over longer periods with a living orchid.
