The LILYPOD Project

With the ongoing COVID-19 situation and the symposium being cancelled, our team was unfortunately unable to demo our project to the public last Friday. Our team put together a video of all the functionalities of the final product, which you can view below. As well, we created a poster outlining all the important pieces of information about this product. Hope you all enjoy!

Just a few more pictures, showcasing some of the work we are doing with the LED strip (giving us indications of the state of the pod - i.e. filtration, garbage check, malfunction, etc.), the ML model and Firestore database for visualization, and the overall test setup for the sensors and actuators.

Currently hard at work, planning to replicate the breadboard setup for Arduino and peripheral connections (i.e. ultrasonic, pH, conductivity sensors), as well as the spectroscopy bulb connections, on a protoboard. Successfully programmed all the peripherals, and obtaining accurate values for all the devices. A few days left until our demo!!

Check it out! Put some of the prints together, to show the overall structure. Unfortunately the top part came in 3 pieces, so we will have to epoxy the parts together. However, the middle and bottom parts all connected to each other well. Above is what the middle part looks like, from the inside. Once the parts were obtained, we coated all the parts with the XTC-3D solution, so that it would have time to cure before assembly of all the major components.

With all our parts designed, we outsourced our 3D printing to DigitMakers , a 3D printing company located in North York. The parts sent to DigitMakers included the top 'lilypad', the middle structure housing the spectroscopy, and the bottom housing for the pump and mesh filter. These parts were large, and required larger printers for the printing process. The material used for printing was PLA. To speed up the process, we went on a mini-road trip to pick up the completed parts from their facility. In addition to the parts, we needed a coating to waterproof our 3D printed parts. Though we chose a print volume of 50%, and ensured a solid outer layer for the print, a solution to coat the external shells of the parts was chosen. Through research, we found a solution called XTC 3D. We visited Sculpture Supply Canada in Etobicoke as well, to pick up this solution. Check for the next post to see the printed parts!