Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
30 PawFeast: Food on Demand
Arash Amiri
Kathryn Thompson
Omkar Kulkarni
Aishee Mondal design_document3.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
grading_sheet1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
video
# PawFeast: Food on Demand

Team Members:
- Omkar Kulkarni (onk2)
- Arash Amiri (arasha3)
- Kathryn Thompson (kyt3)

# Problem

All pet owners must remember to feed their pets at set times during the day. There are times that people forget to feed their pets, double feed them when there are multiple people in the house and there is poor communication, or have trouble feeding them on time when they get home late if there are prior conflicts. In these times, pets either eat too much, too little, or irregularly. As a result, timer-based pet feeders have been created that release food at set times. However, this introduces a new problem, food that was sealed in an airtight container is now released into an open environment. When this food sits out for extended periods of time, this risks the food becoming stale or bugs getting introduced to the food.

# Solution

We are seeking to solve this problem by having timers preventing overeating, coupled with pressure sensors required to release food. Given both of these conditions, the dispenser will release the food for the pet. This ensures that the food is fresh when the pet goes to eat and that the pet is fed on time. In addition, if the pet were to not eat all the food at once and leave the food dispenser, the pressure sensor will tell the dispenser to cover the food until the pet returns ensuring freshness and preventing bugs. In addition, our system will notify owners when the pet has eaten, or when the food dispenser has low levels of food.


# Solution Components
## Subsystem 1: Refilling Food Store
The subsystem for checking if the food store is empty will include an infrared presence sensor (Vishay TSSP77038) that is able to measure up to 2 meters in front of it to determine whether an object is present—this will serve to detect whether the food inside of the container is low and needs to be refilled. When the food store reaches a certain level, a signal will be sent to subsystem 7 (the brain), which will send an automated message to notify the owner to refill the food store.
## Subsystem 2: Power System
The power system will supply energy to all of the various subsystems, including the microcontroller of subsystem 7, the stepper motor driver in subsystem 3, and the various sensors in subsystems 1, 5, and 6. The low voltage buses will be 3.3V, 12V, and 5V, all of which will be powered by a combination of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and low-dropout regulators. This compact, custom battery pack will allow the pet dispenser to be portable, even for family vacations or road trips. The AMS1117 LDO has variable voltage levels of 1.2V, 1.5V, 3.3V, 5V, and more for all of the lower voltage needs; the 12V supply will come directly from the battery pack or possibly from a DC-DC converter that is implemented.
## Subsystem 3: Food Dispenser
This subsystem will utilize a E Series Nema 17 stepper motor that will slide open a door to the food container when needed and allow a set amount of food through before sliding closed the
door. The motor will be controlled by a stepper motor controller IC (DRV8825) with a custom control circuit that takes in 12V and outputs 3.4V to the motor. Hard cut offs will also be coded for maximum food and min and max on times during the day.

The main objective of this subsystem is to make the system an on-demand food system. We will utilize a large button for the dog to step on when hungry. When pressed, the system will start the motors to release food, on the condition that enough time has elapsed since it ate last. The pet would be trained how to ask for food using this button. Only when the button is pressed and enough time has passed, will food then be dispensed.
## Subsystem 4: RFID for pet identification

We will have receivers for minimum 2 RFIDs, UHF RFID tag 9662 Long Distance Passive Alien H3. The RFIDs would be used to signal which pet is using the dispenser, so the owner is able to utilize the same dispenser for one or more pets.
## Subsystem 5: User Interface
The subsystem for notifications will be a phone application that we will build that is able to connect with the pet feed dispenser system. For the application side, we will utilize React Native and Expo to create a user friendly method to check the pet’s eating habits. This will notify users for when the pet has been fed, if the food tank is low and requires refiling, and if the food was covered due to an empty bowl or a partially filled one.

## Subsystem 6: Brain
The brain subsystem will take in inputs from all of the other sensor subsystems and output the according signals to the user interface (for notifications) and the food dispenser motor driver. This system will also track the amount of time that has passed and sound a soft chime for when enough time has passed for the pet to be able to eat. The ESP32 microcontroller, known for its wifi connectivity and security measures, would have a set of I/O pins for taking in these signals. This MCU programmer circuit and other control level circuitry—firmware or equivalent—would be incorporated onto this board along with a UART circuit to detect pet RFIDs (done with the UHF RFID reader JRD-4035).

# Criterion For Success

The mechanical feeder system should drop a bowl-full of food once a valid RFID is nearby, a pet-intended button has been pressed, AND enough time has passed since the pet last ate.
An owner should receive a notification once the food store has decreased below 10% and 20%, and when criterion 1 has been satisfied.
The power system should be power efficient: the rechargeable battery should last for at least 10 food dispenses.

Waste Bin Monitoring System

Benjamin Gao, Matt Rylander, Allen Steinberg

Featured Project

# Team Members:

- Matthew Rylander (mjr7)

- Allen Steinberg (allends2)

- Benjamin Gao (bgao8)

# Problem

Restaurants produce large volumes of waste every day which can lead to many problems like overflowing waste bins, smelly trash cans, and customers questioning the cleanliness of a restaurant if it is not dealt with properly. Managers of restaurants value cleanliness as one of their top priorities. Not only is the cleanliness of restaurants required by law, but it is also intrinsically linked to their reputation. Customers can easily judge the worth of a restaurant by how clean they keep their surroundings. A repulsive odor from a trash can, pests such as flies, roaches, or rodents building up from a forgotten trash can, or even just the sight of a can overflowing with refuse can easily reduce the customer base of an establishment.

With this issue in mind, there are many restaurant owners and managers that will likely purchase a device that will help them monitor the cleanliness of aspects of their restaurants. With the hassle of getting an employee to leave their station, walk to a trash can out of sight or far away, possibly even through external weather conditions, and then return to their station after washing their hands, having a way to easily monitor the status of trash cans from the kitchen or another location would be convenient and save time for restaurant staff.

Fullness of each trash can isn’t the only motivating factor to change out the trash. Maybe the trash can is mostly empty, but is extremely smelly. People are usually unable to tell if a trash can is smelly just from sight alone, and would need to get close to it, open it up, and expose themselves to possible smells in order to determine if the trash needs to be changed.

# Solution

Our project will have two components: 1. distributed sensor tags on the trash can, and 2. A central hub for collecting data and displaying the state of each trash can.

The sensor tags will be mounted to the top of a waste bin to monitor fullness of the can with an ultrasonic sensor, the odor/toxins in the trash with an air quality/gas sensor, and also the temperature of the trash can as high temperatures can lead to more potent smells. The tags will specifically be mounted on the underside of the trash can lids so the ultrasonic sensor has a direct line of sight to the trash inside and the gas sensor is directly exposed to the fumes generated by the trash, which are expected to migrate upward past the sensor and out the lid of the can.

The central hub will have an LCD display that will show all of the metrics described in the sensor tags and alert workers if one of the waste bins needs attention with a flashing LED. The hub will also need to be connected to the restaurant’s WiFi.

This system will give workers one less thing to worry about in their busy shifts and give managers peace of mind knowing that workers will be warned before a waste bin overflows. It will also improve the customer experience as they will be much less likely to encounter overflowing or smelly trash cans.

# Solution Components

## Sensor Tag Subsystem x2

Each trash can will be fitted with a sensor tag containing an ultrasonic sensor transceiver pair, a hazardous gas sensor, a temperature sensor, an ESP32 module, and additional circuitry necessary for the functionality of these components. The sensors will be powered with 3.3V or 5V DC from a wall adapter. A small hole will need to be drilled into the side of each trash can to accommodate the wall adapter output cord. They may also need to be connected to the restaurant’s WiFi.

- 2x ESP32-S3-WROOM

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2/16162644

- 2x Air Quality Sensor (ZMOD4410)

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/renesas-electronics-corporation/ZMOD4410AI1R/8823799

- 2x Temperature/Humidity Sensor(DHT22)

https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Digital-Temperature-Humidity-Replace/dp/B01DA3C452?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A30QSGOJR8LMXA#customerReviews

- 2x Ultrasonic Transmitter/Receiver

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-devices/CUSA-R75-18-2400-TH/13687422

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-devices/CUSA-T75-18-2400-TH/13687404

## Central Hub Subsystem

The entire system will be monitored from a central hub containing an LCD screen, an LED indicator light, and additional I/O modules as necessary. It will be based around an ESP32 module connected to the restaurant’s WiFi or ESPNOW P2P protocol that communicates with the sensor tags. The central hub will receive pings from the sensor tags at regular intervals, and if the central hub determines that one or more of the values (height of trash, air quality index, or temperature) are too high, it will notify the user. This information will be displayed on the hub’s LCD screen and the LED indicator light on the hub will flash to alert the restaurant staff of the situation.

- 1x ESP32-S3-WROOM

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2/16162644

- 1x LCD Screen

https://www.amazon.com/Hosyond-Display-Compatible-Mega2560-Development/dp/B0BWJHK4M6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=3.5%2Binch%2Blcd&qid=1705694403&sr=8-4&th=1

# Criteria For Success

This project will be successful if the following goals are met:

- The sensor tags can detect when a trash can is almost full (i.e. when trash is within a few inches of the lid) and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.

- The sensor tags can detect when an excess of noxious fumes are being produced in a trash can and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.

- The sensor tags can detect when the temperature in a trash can has exceeded a user-defined threshold and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.

- The central hub can receive wireless messages from all sensor tags reliably and correctly identify which trash cans are sending the messages.

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