Project Highlights
Check out these sweet custom-built features of the Smart Herb Garden.
PCB Design and Sensors
Amazing detail went into designing the perfect PCB for the Smart Herb Garden. In this project, moisture sensors are leveraged to determine the optimal watering time.
Read MoreRobotic System
The intricate, and beautifully crafted robotic system is designed to navigate to specific herbs to deliver water most efficiently.
Read MoreWeb Application
The modern and performant web application is built for users to conveniently and remotely monitor everything they need to know about their garden.
Read MoreAbout the Smart Herb Garden
Convenience has become a higher priority for many consumers and strategically built into many every-day products,
and services. As technology advances, aspects of our daily lives are continuously redesigned and presented with
innovation all to make tasks simpler or to eliminate some tasks completely. The Smart Herb Garden
holds convenience for the user at a high priority.
When it comes to gardening, some of the efforts necessary to be successful in building a typical garden is a major hurdle. A hurdle many people are often not excited to approach, or at times willing to take on at all. The team is excited for the opportunity to utilize Senior Design as a way to offer a solution to make growing one’s own fresh herbs convenient, and efficient.
Project Motivation
People all over the world decide to take on gardening as a hobby. Even if you have a green thumb, it is easy to kill your plants by
forgetting to water them. It is estimated that 40% of all plants die as they are grown and sent to stores, and 35% of surviving plants
die once in the hands of customers. Members of our Senior Design group are excited to develop a product that will help to solve this problem
and continue to promote such an enjoyable and fulfilling hobby.
The goal for this Senior Design project is ultimately to create a Smart Herb Garden that takes having a green thumb out of the equation by automating various gardening tasks for you. With this project, we will be able to spread the joy of gardening, grant users the satisfaction of harvesting homegrown herbs, and most importantly - make it convenient.
So, How Does it Work?
Each plant has a moisture sensor inserted into its soil. When the moisture level drops low,
a robotic arm moves to the plant and activates a water pump to give it water. Plus, the user can log in to a web application to view the
readings of the sensors, allowing for remote monitoring.
Our Team
Marcus Fernandez DeCastro
Marcus Fernandez DeCastro is a 22-year-old Computer Engineering student who has completed
an extended 6-month internship at Stryker doing medical robotics. Marcus plans to continue
a second internship during the summer at Stryker and applying for graduate school in the Spring.
Jordyn Hayden
Jordyn Hayden is a 22-year old Computer Engineering student a part of the Tau Beta Pi
engineering honor society, participates in the University of Central Florida’ s CECS Accelerated
Bachelor’ s to Master’s program, and has held several internships throughout her academic career.
Jordyn is looking forward to pursuing her graduate degree in computer engineering in the near future.
Lucas Jaramillo
Lucas Jaramillo is a 22-year-old Computer Engineering student who is currently in a 6-month
electrical engineering internship with maritime defense contractor, Sparton Corporation.
Lucas plans on continuing with his career path after graduation with the intent to put his
education into practice and gain more hands-on experience.
Charlee Mione
Charlee Mione is a 23-year-old Computer Engineering student with interests in pursuing a
career in robotics. She has been tutoring K-12 students in math throughout her college years
and hopes to continue sharing her love for math for years to come. Charlee plans on enrolling
in graduate school this Spring.
Documentation
Below is all of our team's documentation associated with project research, design, and development across both senior design 1 and 2.