Pest Machine
An IoT machine designed to monitor the amount of bugs in farm fields
Historically it's very hard to constantly monitor the amount of flying bugs in outdoor farm fields.This design aims to provide solution while being consistent, weather-proof and connected to existing farm field monitoring IoT grid.
Iterating the working principle
The original concept uses a simpler structure, but has problems for stability and consistency of rotational movements.
The modified design addresses the stability and consistency problem by driving the roll of adhesive paper indirectly.
More iterations were made, including:
- A knife cutter at the end.
- An anchor in the end and guide added.
- Another roller added.
Engineering
Custom Controller and IoT Board
I designed a custom PCB that acts as the central controller of the machine. It monitors the environment with various sensors like temperature, humidity and illuminance. More importantly, it includes a XBee wireless connectivity module that allows it to connect to a IoT bridge.
Spring-loaded roller
The spring-loaded roller is an essential part of the modified design. These photos shows that the two sets of rollers driving the adhesive paper are spring-loaded to maintain the normal force between them.
Single power source
Another highlight is how all three rotating part is motorized by a single motor with two belts.
Improving the workflow
Git-based CAD collaboration
The extensive CAD work was shared by me and a collegue. I created a git-based collaboration workflow that allow us to work on different part of the model while complying to the specified dimension at the same time.
Bill of Materials managment
In order to track the large number of components used in this machine, I created a Notion-based Bill of Materials (BOM) managment database so I can track quotes from vendors as well as changes in the design.