Salty

CAD
circuit

Inspiration

Our project ideas was inspired after seeing the patches of snow and ice around campus when we returned from winter break and just how dangerous it made in for many families. Our design is based around a combination of fertizlier spreaders and salt trucks. Another element of our design was derived frrom sifters for designing the salt gate.

What it does

It gives an automated solution for salting walkways at and other paved common areas places at WPI utilizing a preexisting technology, Starship robots. It works by being drawn by the Starship robots while the robots progress on set paths to deposit salt all around campus.

How we built it

After designing the project using Onshape, we had to main methods for parts: lasercutting and cutting stock from two by fours. The bottom chasis was assembled with wood screws, while the top component used tabs and wood glue. The cone and side walls were constructed for foam board.

Challenges we ran into

To Avoid Liability Issues with Starship Our project is meant to operate in tandem with a Starship robot, but we were worried about the rules at WPI for using one in our video. We understand that while the starship robots could be used for salting the roads, it is not their purpose on campus and we shouldn't utilize them for our solution without clear approval from the school. Though due to the long holiday weekend, we did not have hopes for anyone from WPI adminstration being able to respond with a definitive yes or no. Faulty Arduino The Arduino we had on hand was unable to accept the servo library and had an internal short. This made programming the servos difficult to figure out. The internal short kept heating the board, making it difficult to work with the Arduino as if left plugged in for too long the board would lose function. This made our group take perdiocally breaks while coding, limiting the amount of work we could complete. Finding Materials Due to limited budget our project was constructed of pieces from the scrap bin and Arduino components that had been a part of previous project. This led to our design having to be arranged and scaled to pieces that were available. Not having access to starship API To properly demonstrate the project we would have to show how to map a course for the Starship to take, but we had no way to access the software used for this.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we found ways to work around the challenges we faced and that at the end of the weekend we had a project that was able to solve a problem we saw on campus.

What we learned

That the scrap bin is an excellent resource not only environmentally, but econimically. Team members not previsouly familiar learned how to use a drill press, band saw, and laser cutter. Team members learned how to control servos without Arduino library.

What's next for Salty

We would get access to the Starship robots so our design could be properly integrated. We'd then build a full scale model to attach to the real robot. The full scale design attached to the robot would feature a photoresistor used to tell if the salt falls below a certain level and needs to be refilled, and a photoresistor used to monitor the speed of the wheels. An nRF24L01 wifi module would also be attached allowing full control of the system through a webpage. These 3 additions would allow the flow rate of salt to be automated depending on how fast the Starship moves, and the website would allow a computer to monitor and control all aspects of the machine.