Budget Self Watering Garden System

The goal of this open-ended project was to create a prototype with the intention of teaching engineering principles to high school students worldwide. To complete this, the project team and I looked to minimize cost while maximizing student interest and highlighting engineering principles. We chose a smart garden system because it allowed us to explore reuse as a concept to reduce cost while making the project more eco-friendly.

We used a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller connected to a small pump, soil moisture sensor, and water level sensor as means to measure and control the system. From performing sensor and pump calibrations we were able to implement control systems in software in using meaningful units. By separating each sensor and its calibrated control functions into individual classes and utilizing them as objects in the main loop, we were able to simplify the readability of the code and control loops.

In addition to making a project write up, we also created an instructional booklet that explains the engineering principles and contains instructions for assembly.

Click for the instructional booklet with assembly instructions, common error troubleshooting and more