Final Project: Sustainable Homes Theme 🏡¶
In our batch, with so many students bringing unique and exciting ideas, we were asked to choose from four themes for our final projects. These themes were Education, Sustainable Homes, Healthcare, and Interactive Play. Once the themes were selected, we were required to conduct research using Google Scholar to gather reliable sources and find at least 5 matching keywords to guide our project. This research was crucial in shaping our understanding and approach to the final project.
Initially, I chose the Education theme, with the goal of leveraging IoT technologies to improve educational environments. The project was set to explore advanced applications like energy management, real-time ecosystem monitoring, student healthcare tracking, and classroom access control, all through IoT-based solutions. Some of the key themes I researched included:
- Medical education and training
- Green IoT
- Wearable technologies
- Computer science education
- Distance education
Several sources provided valuable insights, like the use of sensors and IoT gateways for monitoring educational environments. These studies inspired me to consider wearable technologies and cloud-based platforms for gathering and analyzing data, ultimately improving the learning experience.
However, after more thought, I decided to change my direction and pursue the Sustainable Homes theme 🌿.
Transition to Sustainable Homes¶
After finalizing our theme choices, all students were divided into smaller groups. My group consists of three members: Ahmed Al’Aali (me 😄), Kawther, and Zahra. We decided to take a collaborative approach, where instead of immediately sharing our individual ideas, we each took time to think, sketch, and conceptualize our ideas before presenting them to the group. This allowed us to fully explore each concept and see how they might work together.
Here’s a quick overview of the ideas:
My Idea: Two Weather Monitoring Systems¶
My vision was to create indoor and outdoor weather monitoring systems to provide real-time data on environmental factors that affect a sustainable home. The system would gather data from a variety of sensors, such as:
- Temperature sensor
- Humidity sensor
- Pressure sensor
- Air quality sensor
- Light intensity sensor
- Wind speed and direction sensors
- Rain gauge
- Soil moisture sensor
- Noise sensor
The data from these sensors would be analyzed and displayed in a visual format using an app called ThingSpeak, allowing homeowners to monitor, compare, and make informed decisions to enhance the sustainability of their home.
Kawther’s Idea: Smart Plant Watering System 🌱¶
Kawther suggested a system where plants are watered through an app on a phone. The system allows users to schedule watering times, ensuring plants receive the right amount of water, at the right time, based on real-time sensor data.
Zahra’s Idea: Smart Bird Sink 🐦¶
Zahra proposed an innovative idea for a smart bird sink. This sink would detect when birds are drinking or bathing, and afterward, it would direct the used water to a wastewater tank. The water would then be used to irrigate a plant that is safe and edible for the birds to feed on.
The Big Idea: Merging Our Concepts 💡¶
As we discussed our ideas, something clicked! With a big smile on my face, I asked the group, “What if we merge all our ideas into one amazing system?” And to my delight, everyone agreed that combining the concepts would result in a truly innovative and sustainable solution.
We decided to merge our three ideas into two interconnected systems, one for indoor and one for outdoor monitoring and management. However, due to time constraints and the complexity of developing both systems simultaneously, we concluded that we would focus on just one system for the indoor environment.
Indoor System Concept:¶
Our indoor system would include features from all our ideas, such as:
- Weather monitoring sensors to track environmental conditions indoors.
- Smart plant watering based on the indoor climate, controlled via an app.
- Smart water recycling where water used for indoor plants is efficiently managed and reused, promoting water conservation.
This project will serve as a foundation for creating smarter, more sustainable homes, integrating technology to make everyday life more efficient and eco-friendly 🌎. Stay tuned as we continue to develop and refine our design!