design + engineering
design + engineering
Project Växthus was my team’s Rice University Senior Capstone Project. Our team designed and fabricated an automated, indoor, soil-based greenhouse that allows urban apartment-dwellers with limited gardening space to grow fresh veggies year-round. Our client was HSB Living Lab in Gothenburg, Sweden. Working along with Chalmers University Entrepreneurship and NASA staff, we created a functional, beautiful prototype able to grow plants from seed to harvestable size.
My role on this project was widespread. Predominantly, however, it was electromechanical - I was in charge of selecting and characterizing sensors, integrating electronics hardware, and designing an architecture for the Arduino’s automation sequence and touchscreen interface. In addition, I assisted in CAD modeling and industrial design while leading communications for the team. I also pitched our project to the 2018 HSB Shared Spaces Challenge, winning our team $12,000 in funding to build our prototypes and visit HSB in Sweden.
Teammates included: Jack Kaplan, Mike Hua, Lingbo Chen, Mary Bao, Colin Losey.
This is our prototype in HSB Living Lab in Gothenburg Sweden.
We installed three units of our prototype in HSB Living Lab’s Shared Space after winning HSB Living Lab’s Shared Spaces Challenge.
Residents of HSB Living Lab will use our prototype to study how growing leafy greens, herbs, and root vegetables in an indoor urban environment can improve daily life.
We constructed the chassis of the system with aluminum extrusions.
Users can watch their plants grow through an acrylic window.
We constructed the envelope with laser-cut wood.
Constant-pressure water drippers scatter water over the plants, mimicking the aesthetic of rain while keeping the soil moist.
Arduino Mega dictates the automation of various electronics alongside a touchscreen interface.
Power supplies, relays, terminal blocks, and circuit boards live directly in the ceiling of the unit. All of these electronics work in conjunction to ensure plant growth.
A custom acrylic water tank stores enough water for three week’s worth of plant growth.
The drip tray captures any water that seeps through the plant bed. A steel mesh filters the water and returns it to the reservoir, where it can be reused.
Quick-disconnect tubing and wires ensure easy removal and refilling of the tank.
At the end of the day, one can come back home to a lush bed of fresh vegetables, ready-to-eat.