Week 8: Algorithm Development

To complete the final few stages of the project, the team started to develop the algorithm capable of making decisions based on the input from the sensors.

The final build for the whole model comprising of sensors, the microcontroller, and LEDs connected via a breadboard circuit

The sensors collect data from the plant environment. The microcontroller runs the watering algorithm. The white LED here represents the valve for dispensing water

This week, the team was successfully able to test and run the watering algorithm. In the pictures above, you can see the sensors working in conjunction with the microcontroller to decide when water should be dispensed to the plant. Here, the sensors collect temperature, humidity, light, and soil moisture data from the environment and send it to the microcontroller. The microcontroller runs the watering algorithm which decided whether this data falls within ideal range of readings. The white LED in the system represents the "valve" which would dispense water in a real-life prototype. This white LED turns on when the moisture levels of the plant are below ideal range as seen in the picture above.

The code for the watering algorithm

In the code, you can see how the algorithm makes decisions based on the readings from the sensors. Here, if a valve were attached instead of the white LED in the model, line 110 in the code would have been the duration for which the water would be dispensed by the valve.