HydroSense

Back-Side
Middle-View
Front-Side

Inspiration

Saving water was one of our greatest concerns since we live in a drought-stricken state. One of the first things we thought about was what was something we continually do in our daily routines that involved the over usage of water? We thought of ideas concerning sinks, toilets, and watering systems but we eventually landed on shower heads. Showering is one of the things that we do in our daily lives that could be made more eco friendly and efficient. This is the idea HydroSense was based off of, fixing one of the biggest factors of water waste in our daily living.

What it does

Our device has 5 main features that we built it to do. The five features are it can monitor data (water usage, temperature, and shower duration for up to 4 users), it visualized data on our interactive website (user trends, monthly and yearly reports), it can recommend optimal shower time (based on daytie drought patterns), it can assist in budgeting for water consumption, and it has a chatgpt integration that empowers users with data comprehension.

How we built it

Our building process consisted of using a CAD program to design our shower head and the surrounding umbrella to house our electronic components. On the hardware side of things we worked with an ESP32 and used the arduino IDE software to conduct code to make our device act correctly. Also, the correct wiring was necessary in order for our LED lights and functions to flow and do what we wanted it to do. In conjunction with the hardware aspect of this project, we also developed a website using Streamlit and connected a database with it to display our separate profiles and functionalities.

Challenges we ran into

One of the major challenges that we ran into while working on this project was minor problems while coding that turned out to be more difficult than expected was dealing with “interrupts” when we were coding on the arduino IDE. While using the interrupts, it made the code unpredictable and didn’t function how we wanted it to. After a while of debugging and testing, we figured out how to correctly use the interrupts the way we wanted to. Another major problem we had was the time constraint when using our 3D printer. Every print we did took a few hours so we had to be sure about the print before we sent it off to be constructed. Although most of our prints worked as planned we wasted a lot of time on the ones that didn’t turn out the way we wanted to. To fix this problem we were more cautious and double checked before printing.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

No matter the outcome of this hackathon, there are a lot of things that we are proud of that we accomplished during this project. To name a few, we separated and collaborated on all of the tasks that we needed to complete and we all got to work straight away. With all of our efforts we managed to assemble and put together a working smart IoT shower head. As a team we developed a greater sense of responsibility and time management due to this hackathon/project. Even with hurtles that we had to overcome, we didn’t falter and always came up with a solution in the end.

What we learned

During our time here at the hackathon our experience was unlike anything else we faced off before. Having to finish a project in less than three days posed a challenging task for a whole team of first time hackathon participants. Even though we were new, we faced this challenge head on and eventually came out on top. We learned so much about our capabilities and how far we can push ourselves to be the best competitors we can be. Not only that but we picked up some valuable skills from working alongside each other. For example, working with a group to complete a project in such a short amount of time helped develop our time management skills and our teamwork.

What’s next for HydroSense

In the long run HydroSense could be a life-changing device that could help limit the amount of water we use while showering. If this technology were in every household in drought-stricken states this could reduce the amount of water that is taken away from our precious water supplies. With the right help and funding, HydroSense could be used in different home appliances such as sinks, toilets, washing machines, and even watering devices. This would indefinitely lead to a more efficient life style, while also saving water and money all at the same time.