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Gerda
Inspiration
A NASA study showed that indoor plants reduced dust and mould growth, potentially leading to fewer allergies. Dr Alistair Griffiths showed that indoor plants can reduce unhealthy cortisol patterns by up to 29%. Numerous other studies have shown that indoor plants can increase productivity by up to 15%, significantly improve mental health, strengthen the immune system, and make it easier to sleep.
Inspired by the struggle of keeping our plants alive, we wanted to create a solution for busy individuals who love greenery but lack the time/capability to provide their plants with consistent care. We aimed to help people reap the benefits of having healthy plants in their homes by making plant care possible from anywhere and anytime.
What it does?
Gerda functions as an innovative plant care system, offering comprehensive features tailored to plant management. At its essence, Gerda facilitates remote monitoring and growth tracking of plants via our custom made web interface. Moreover, Gerda incorporates an automated smart watering and plant tracking hub, seamlessly connected to WiFi and accessible through our website. This hub is equipped with functionalities to water plants and capture photos for growth tracking, ensuring optimal care for your plants, regardless of location.
Features include:
- Remote watering of existing plants facilitated via the ESP32-CAM WiFi Module.
- Seamlessly integrate new plants into the remote care system.
- Offer a user-friendly and customisable interface, featuring options for personalisation such as diverse themes, layouts, plant images, and names.
- Enable users to set watering levels for both automatic and scheduled plant care, with the capability to store individual water level preferences for each plant.
- Track essential plant data including species, time since last watering, average water intake, and recommended water intake based on plant species for precise care management.
Future features:
- Incorporate humidity tracking utilising a soil humidity/moisture detection sensor module.
- Implement sunlight tracking to collect and record relevant light data.
- Utilise a database and AI functionalities to provide recommendations for optimal watering schedules and plant positioning, aimed at maximising plant growth potential.
- Provide progress reports and updates on plant growth over specified time intervals.
- Offer badges and interactive achievements on the website to incentivise and encourage user engagement and progression in plant care activities.
How we built it?
We began by designing a user-friendly interface using Figma, then utilised Vue.js to bring it to fruition. Gerda then leverages the ESP32-CAM module and it's libraries in enabling Wi-Fi/Bluetooth access for remote control of watering devices, ensuring a straightforward user experience for plant care.
The ESP32-CAM was programmable through an Arduino Uno, and ultimately allowed us to facilitate the implementation of a web server for sending signals to our hardware components via WiFi. Originally, our design involved prototyping a main water tank holder and a central controller box to house all our software. This would require us to create a CAD model and then 3D print the model. Additionally, we intended in incorporating a micro water pump for water pumping. However, due to time constraints, this plan was abandoned. Instead, in our video, we showcased the capability of signalling to the pump to adjust the water level or activate the water spray, demonstrating its functionality and future practicality.
Challenges with Designing Gerda
The team had limited experience with many of the technologies being used - in particular mobile development. We were initially very optimistic to develop a flutter iOS app and connect it to a Bluetooth-enabled Arduino but quickly realised that mobile development was going to be too much to learn in a short time. We were hesitant to switch to a web app though because we were unsure if we were going to have access to a wifi-enabled Arduino. We eventually pivoted to a web app after we figured that it would be compatible with the Arduino and continued with the development.
The Arduino code was quite tricky and finding the right libraries and code to use was difficult. In addition, we decided to learn a new web framework in Vue.js so there was a bit of a learning curve. Still, we managed to adapt relatively quickly using prior knowledge of previous frameworks and general knowledge of web development.
Delegating tasks was also a point of disagreement that our team had to deal with. More people wanted to do the development than scripting of the videos and the presentation though both were equally important. We eventually compromised and each person was delegated a suitable role that matched their strengths.
Despite the challenges, we are proud of what we were able to accomplish as a team in terms of software, hardware, and project presentation. We also learnt a lot - both in terms of technical knowledge including web technologies, Arduino, and how to connect the two, as well as delegating responsibilities and working together as a team.
Accomplishments that we're proud of!
Despite limited time, we developed a functional web app with a clear value proposition - Arduino-connected plant watering through a user-friendly interface. In addition, while the water spraying was not fully functioning, remote access to the Arduino - different LEDs lighting up representing different watering volumes - was functional and in the future, we would be able to attach it to a motor to trigger the water spraying.
Although it took a while to get there, it was good that each person in the team had a specialised role, including web developers, Arduino developers, a UI designer and a video editor/visionary for the project. Having the isolation of responsibilities enabled the team to work together in a cohesive manner where we could each focus on our strengths.
What we learnt?
"Simple is best" resonated deeply. Focusing on a well-defined problem with a straightforward solution was crucial for our success within a tight timeframe.
While it was good that we came up with an idea quickly, an improvement to our process could have been to define the parameters and limitations of the hardware earlier in the planning process to have a clearer project trajectory. This would have allowed us to effectively split the workload and run into fewer blockers during development.
What's next for Gerda?
The future holds exciting possibilities for Gerda! We can look at integrating plant vitals, information about soil, humidity, moisture levels, sunlight and other information that is important for plant health. With a lot of different information to be displayed, we would have to carefully consider the user experience and focus on having it remain simple and elegant since that would be important for busy users. Another feature could be an in-app tutorial to guide users on the features of the application and allow users to have a better idea of how to use Gerda to its full potential.
Finally, a mobile app could be developed in the future which would be ideal for user convenience.
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