Worm Box

Inspiration

Our environment is only getting worse day by day. What's worse is that many of the factors worsening our environment are consumer-sided. Disposing of food waste uses 1/4 of the world's yearly water usage and worsens our climate with its significant greenhouse gas footprint. Composting is a simple and easy solution to help alleviate many of these issues. However, many people don't compost because the bin can get wet and smelly and frankly, that's not something many people want to deal with. Wormin' Time created Worm Bin to disturb the green bin industry and promote composting.

What it does

Worm Bin is a smart composter, that tracks the humidity and temperature in the bin and relays that information to the user. When the Bin detects that the humidity and/or temperature gets too high for an extended period, it warns the user, telling them to dispose of their compost before it gets wet and smelly. Additionally, it uses a motorized lid so that the user doesn't need to risk getting their hands dirtier when accessing the bin.

How we built it

Worm Bin was designed utilizing an Arduino Uno. Attached to the Arduino is a Temperature & Humidity, Infrared Sensor and Ultrasonic Sensor. The Ultrasonic Sensor, Infrared Sensor and Temperature & Humidity Sensor are used to send data to the user, indicating how full the box is and the temperature & humidity in the box. Photoresistors are used to open the box. When triggered it activates a motor on the lid, opening it.

Challenges we ran into

We had a lot of issues with the sensors not working. Some of the sensors were very finicky or barely working so we had to overcome those challenges by properly addressing and analyzing the issue. Then once we diagnosed the problem, were had to come up with solutions to either fix the problem or work around it. For instance, the temperature, humidity and pressure sensor never worked and we couldn't get our hands on a replacement but we still designed for where it would go and how it would be integrated in the app.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Stepping outside our (worm) box and learning something new. We got the opportunity to apply some of the knowledge that we learned in class (3D Printing, coding) and apply it to a real-world scenario while getting the chance to explore something new, with the Arduino.

What we learned

We learned about the importance of composting and how it affects the environment. We also learned how to properly use the ultrasonic sensor and infrared sensor and how to put them together in a synchronous integrated system.

What's next for Wormin' Time's Secret Project

Some next steps for this project include: a properly integrated App, better sensors, and a more accurate prototype. Especially, in regards to the humidity, temperature and pressure (HTP) sensor. ours never worked and then there were none left thus we weren't able to properly integrate it into the prototype although we still consider it to be part of the design. Furthermore, we also want to do future testing with regards to the HTP sensor as we want to the the exact behaviour of compost, and the humidity and temperature level that would cause it to rot quicker or require the bag to be changed. For example, we want the app to be able to tell you to change your compost based on the temperature and humidity being at a certain level for x amount of days.