Hello everyone !
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In this instructable I am collaborating with Akin Yildiz an instructables author that creates instructables that help plants grow you should really go check out his account: http://www.instructables.com/member/Akin+Yildiz/
The planterbot is a plant monitoring robot. It uses capacitance for sensing moisture from the plant instead of using the usual soil probe, this means that wires don’t go into the plant. It also detects temperature and light using thermistors and Cds photocells and displays the temperature and light graphically on the front facing LCD.
This is kind of like the the final version of Akin’s : http://www.instructables.com/id/Computer-aided-pla…
Note: Currently you should power this from a 9 volt battery pack, if you don’t do this and power it off of an AC wall outlet the readings will be off.
Update: New youtube video of it! another one will be coming soon that shows off all of the features.
Here is how the idea of the collaboration started: http://www.instructables.com/id/Lighttemperature-S…
Step 1: Parts and Tools
These are the parts and tools that you will need to make this project:
Parts:
Arduino Uno or Leonardo with USB cable
Thermistor 10k ohm
Cds photocell (light sensor)
Wire
Electrical tape
Battery pack for arduino with DC plug 9v
Small amount of aluminum foil (for water sensor)
Baltic birch or anything that is laser cuttable
Acrylic for water sensor (you can use wood for the water sensor but it doesn’t look as good and the wood can warp if it gets wet.)
Male headers
16×2 LCD preferably with backlight
.
Tools:
Laser cutter
Computer with arduino IDE
Hot glue gun and hot glue
Step 2: Laser Cut Parts
Here are the files that you will need to cut for an enclosure for this instructable if you don’t have a laser cutter then you should see if your city or town has a local makerspace/ hackerspace that has one (or can use an online service).
File:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:515346
For more detail: Planterbot – The Plant Monitoring Robot
