Revision as of 14:40, 15 February 2025

Respiring Reflections

First Experiments

In the beginning of our semester, we were given some seeds to be grown at home. This was our first experiments for this class. I was growing Chia seeds (and also apple seeds that didn't really grow into anything) on a piece of cotton and inside a plastic bag. I have not done this since school time, so it was interesting and fun. During our first experiments in growing seeds, we documented our plants' progress. I documented it in form of pictures and diary entries.

//add pics + examples of diary entries

Motivation

After attending a few sessions of this class, I started brainstorming what could my topic of interest be. Honestly it was a bit confusing and challenging to try combining/connecting plants and electronics somehow. Before this bubble machine idea came up, I had some more ideas and sketched them in my notebook. In the end, I was interested in the respiration process of my plants and decided to make a bubble machine which can visualize the respiration process/cycle of my plants.

//add initial sketches

Initial project mood board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLBm7F8w=/?share_link_id=117991010729

Are my plants breathing? They seem fine, their leaves are green... but are they really okay? To observe my houseplants' respiration, a prototype of soap bubble maker machine is being developed. The quantity of soap bubbles will be in accordance to the CO₂ level of the plants' (closed) environment, divided into three categories: Low, Medium and High CO2 level.

Materials

ESP32
CO₂ sensor MH-Z19C
Stepper motor 28BYJ-48
Stepper motor driver module ULN2003
PWM fan AMD Ryzen 7 1700
10kΩ resistor
Power supply 12 volts
Switch
Buck converter 12 volts to 5 volts
Acrylic sheets
Lots of cables...

First Prototype

first prototype

Final Prototype (Winterwerkschau)

final prototype

Wiring Diagram

wiring diagram

Code

Self-reflection

Future Work

Gallery

The Plant Plant Gallery (Nextcloud Bauhaus Uni), Password: theplantplant (CO₂ sensor first trial pictures are inside)

References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Project idea: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLBm7F8w=/?share_link_id=117991010729
+= Respiring Reflections =
+=== First Experiments ===
+In the beginning of our semester, we were given some seeds to be grown at home. This was our first experiments for this class. I was growing Chia seeds (and also apple seeds that didn't really grow into anything) on a piece of cotton and inside a plastic bag. I have not done this since school time, so it was interesting and fun. During our first experiments in growing seeds, we documented our plants' progress. I documented it in form of pictures and diary entries.
+//add pics + examples of diary entries
+=== Motivation ===
+After attending a few sessions of this class, I started brainstorming what could my topic of interest be. Honestly it was a bit confusing and challenging to try combining/connecting plants and electronics somehow. Before this bubble machine idea came up, I had some more ideas and sketched them in my notebook. In the end, I was interested in the respiration process of my plants and decided to make a bubble machine which can visualize the respiration process/cycle of my plants.
+//add initial sketches
+Initial project mood board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLBm7F8w=/?share_link_id=117991010729
-== Motivation ==
 Are my plants breathing? They seem fine, their leaves are green... but are they really okay? To observe my houseplants' respiration, a prototype of soap bubble maker machine is being developed. The quantity of soap bubbles will be in accordance to the CO<sub>2</sub> level of the plants' (closed) environment, divided into three categories: Low, Medium and High CO<small>2</small> level.
-== Materials ==
+=== Materials ===
 * ESP32
 * CO<sub>2</sub> sensor MH-Z19C
@@ Line 18: / Line 28: @@
 * Lots of cables...
-== Pseudocode ==
+=== First Prototype ===
-Idea: assign CO<sub>2</sub> value into 3 categories; '''Low, Medium, High''' and adjust the stepper motor speed based on the category.<syntaxhighlight lang="arduino">
+first prototype
-  DEFINE constants for CO2 thresholds:
-    LOW_MEDIUM_THRESHOLD = 500 //to be determined via trials
+=== Final Prototype (Winterwerkschau) ===
-    MEDIUM_HIGH_THRESHOLD = 700 //to be determined via trials
+final prototype
-  DEFINE speed settings for each category:
+=== Wiring Diagram ===
-    LOW_SPEED = 400      // Steps per second
+wiring diagram
-    MEDIUM_SPEED = 800   // Steps per second
-    HIGH_SPEED = 1200    // Steps per second
+=== Code ===
-  INITIALIZE variable currentCategory to -1
-  INITIALIZE variable lastCategory to -1
-  FUNCTION setup():
-    BEGIN
-      SET maximum speed for stepper motor (e.g., 1200 steps/sec)
-      SET acceleration for smoother operation (e.g., 500 steps/sec^2)
-      START serial communication for debugging
-    END
-  FUNCTION loop():
+=== Self-reflection ===
-    BEGIN
-      READ CO2 value from the sensor (variable CO2)
-      DETERMINE currentCategory:
-        IF CO2 < LOW_MEDIUM_THRESHOLD:
-          SET currentCategory to LOW
-        ELSE IF CO2 < MEDIUM_HIGH_THRESHOLD:
-          SET currentCategory to MEDIUM
-        ELSE:
-          SET currentCategory to HIGH
-      IF currentCategory is different from lastCategory:
-        BEGIN
-          SWITCH currentCategory:
-            CASE LOW:
-              SET stepper motor speed to LOW_SPEED
-            CASE MEDIUM:
-              SET stepper motor speed to MEDIUM_SPEED
-            CASE HIGH:
-              SET stepper motor speed to HIGH_SPEED
-          UPDATE lastCategory to currentCategory
+=== Future Work ===
-        END
-      RUN stepper motor at the current speed (use AccelStepper's runSpeed() function)
-    END
-</syntaxhighlight>Idea to determine thresholds: run trials on plants enclosed environment.<syntaxhighlight lang="arduino">
-  DEFINE variables:
-    minCO2 = Infinity     // Initialize to a very high value
-    maxCO2 = -Infinity    // Initialize to a very low value
-    startTime = CURRENT_TIME
-    trialDuration = 30 minutes (in milliseconds, e.g., 30 * 60 * 1000)
-  FUNCTION setup():
-    BEGIN
-      INITIALIZE serial communication for debugging
-      INITIALIZE CO2 sensor
-      PRINT "Starting 30-minute CO2 trial..."
-    END
-  FUNCTION loop():
-    BEGIN
-      WHILE (CURRENT_TIME - startTime) < trialDuration:
-        BEGIN
-          READ current CO2 value from sensor (variable currentCO2)
-          IF currentCO2 < minCO2:
-            UPDATE minCO2 to currentCO2
-          IF currentCO2 > maxCO2:
-            UPDATE maxCO2 to currentCO2
-          PRINT currentCO2, minCO2, and maxCO2 to serial monitor
-          WAIT for 1 second //reduce sampling frequency
-        END
-      PRINT "Trial Complete."
-      PRINT minCO2 and maxCO2 to serial monitor
-      CALCULATE range = maxCO2 - minCO2
-      CALCULATE lowMediumThreshold = minCO2 + (range / 3)
-      CALCULATE mediumHighThreshold = minCO2 + (2 * range / 3)
-      PRINT "Thresholds:"
-      PRINT "Low-Medium Threshold: " + lowMediumThreshold
-      PRINT "Medium-High Threshold: " + mediumHighThreshold
-    END
-</syntaxhighlight>
-== Gallery ==
+=== Gallery ===
 [https://nextcloud.uni-weimar.de/s/qSHqbfojNCGmAdH The Plant Plant Gallery (Nextcloud Bauhaus Uni), Password: theplantplant] (CO<sub>2</sub> sensor first trial pictures are inside)
-== References ==
+=== References ===
 ===== CO<sub>2</sub> sensor MH-Z19C =====