Design & Technology

Robotics
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By Arav Agarwal
MYP 2C
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Criteria A
Design situation-:
Our task is to come up with a solution to a global issue. Now, what we must keep
in mind is that our solution must include robotics.

Overview
We are doing a project on deforestation, where we come up with an autonomous
solution to the problem. We chose the problem of deforestation as it is one of the
most prominent problems on this planet. Every minute, trees the size of a football
field is cut. Therefore, we are investigating this problem.
(https://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/degradation_and_destruction_of_ecosy
stems/acts_on_deforestation)

Goals
1. To investigate about Deforestation.
2. To create 3 design ideas on our product.
3. Create a product that can plant seeds.
4. Make agriculture easier
5. Support farmers

Secondary Research

Facts on Deforestation:
1. Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation.
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2. If the current rate of deforestation continues, there will be no forests left in a

100 years.
3. Half of the world's tropical forests are already deforested.
4. About 28,000 species are expected to be extinct in the past few decades.
because of deforestation.
(https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-deforestation-facts.php)

Effects of Deforestation:
1. Global Warming: Due to less trees, there is more Carbon Dioxide in the air,
because of which Global Warming starts and Ice starts to melt, which leads
to sea rise.
2. Less oxygen: Since trees take in Carbon Dioxide and give out Oxygen, they
are very important. But if we cut trees, oxygen will run low in the
atmosphere.
3. Soil Erosion: When trees are plucked, it releases some soil, which erodes
into the roads and can cause soil slides.
(https://www.pachamama.org/effects-of-deforestation)

Solutions to Deforestation (Non – Robotic)

1. Reforestation: Planting more trees is perhaps the simplest solution to
deforestation.
2. Promoting Sustainable Choices: You can use the stuff in your daily life that
doesn't waste trees, such as paper made out of cow dung.
3. Standing together: Trying to stop deforest together is one of the best ways to
stop deforestation. You can join a No - Deforestation Club or support
organizations such as WWF.
(https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/solutions-to-deforestation/)
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ACCESS FM – Agricultural Drone

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(https://www. postscapes.co
m/agriculture -

robots/#drones)
A - Aesthetics

The asthetics look nice and it is well designed and mostly symmitrical.

C - Cost

Ranges from 1,500$ to 25,000$

C - Customer

It saves time and labor for the costumer, which in this case is the farmer

E - Environment

It is not affecting the environment. In fact, it is planting more plants for the world's
benifit.
S - Safety

It is safe as there are cameras on it. Plus, it will be flying about 100 feet above the
ground
S - Size

There is no exact measurement of the length but the weight is about 400 pounds.

F - Function

Can put pesticide repelent onto plants and can analyze growth of plants using
cameras
M - Material

It has an infraded camera, visible camera and a thermal camera.

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Solution we choose…

A robot that supports farmers in agricultural tasks. I plan to use Lego NXT to make
a working prototype of the model. For a more accurate model, I am creating a 3D
idea on LDD (Lego digital designer). It has a mechanism to dig into the soil drop
the seed and then simultaneously cover the tracks leading to a nice and clean field.
I intend to create an outside covering of the box, too.

Primary Research

Survey Results
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This survey was held using google forms

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepmZUtjFnFTJp9RiK-
Q3Blr06vFShBh_AZ8Sbad1RVy1u-Jw/viewform

Survey Result Analysis:

I think that the survey results show that we should do deforestation as all the
results show that deforestation is a major problem. Even the ratings were as good
at 9, but nothing can be to perfection. Therefore, we are continuing our original
idea.

Design Brief
Goal: To create a robot that will be able to plant seeds

Role: Good-vertisers, people who advertise their products that lead to the benefit
of the environment
Audience: Everyone who has space to grow trees. Especially useful for farmers

Situation: Deforestation is a major problem on this planet and we need a robot to

solve the problem.
Product: The Reforestation Bot, an agricultural robot that help in plantation of
seeds
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Criteria B
Design Ideas
We have created all these design on Lego Digital Designer, an application
developed by LEGO for drafting Lego models.
Design Idea No.1
This design is looking quite nice with different colors. It excels when I think about
aesthetics and overall looks. However, it does not have the seed dropper, which is a
major thing that is lacking in it. Plus, the motor in the front disrupts the weight
balance of the whole robot.

Design Idea No.2

This design is one of our best as we have excelled
in almost all aspects. The seed dispenser is there
and so is the digger. It is very strong as it has a
frame. The robot is well balanced overall.
However, the aesthetics are not nice as the frame
is very disoriented and the seed dispenser is very
oddly made.
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Design Idea No.3

This design is small but well balanced. The aesthetics look very nice, too.
However, the strength of this design is very weak as it is small and it doesn’t have
a boundary/frame. Also, I have only added the flattener in this which is the least
important function out of the 3.

Design Idea No.4

I think that this is the best design out of the 4. It checks all of the
boxes in the success criteria. It is well designed and it is stable and
strong as the NXT brick is mounted on the motors properly and
there is a frame. The weight is balanced properly as the very front has a
motor for digging and the very back has the other
functions.
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Design Success Criteria

Design No. Aesthetics Stability and Strength Weight Balance Functionalit
y
1
2
3
4

Design Specifications
There are 4 major parts in this product:
1. The base
2. The seed dispenser
3. The digger
4. The flattener
Everything will be made using Lego Mindstorms, except for the seed dispenser.

Dimensions:
Breadth: 21.6cm
Length: 40.8cm
Height: 15

There will be 3 NXT motors in our product, 2 for driving our robot forward and one
for the digger. The specifications of the NXT motor are as follows:
Voltage: 9V powered
RPM: 160 at 100% power
The NXT motor has a faster RPM than an EV3 motor.
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Parts of the model NXT Brick

Drive Motor No.2 Seed dispenser (Will be

soldered). I will insert an
oregano bottle.

Flattener

Drive Motor No.1 NXT Brick

Drive Motor No.1

Digger attached to
motor
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Criteria C
Steps to make the product:
The first thing I did to make the product was to load up the instructions in Lego
Digital Designer. Lego Digital Designer has this feature where you can create a
building guide for the model the person has made in it. It helped me out a lot while
creating the model. Here is the screenshot for the same:

The 3 icons which are circled indicate (from left to right) the build mode, the view
mode and the building guide mode.
Secondly, I opened up 2 NXT and 2 EV3 kits as the product needed a few parts
from EV3.
After setting up the parts and LDD, I started building. The first part I made was the
supporting wheel part and the connector. The connector connects the frame, flatter
and seed dispenser part and the robot base all together.
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After this, I made the seed dispenser part and the

flattener. While I was working on this, I realized
that my idea for the seed dispenser might not work.
I thought this because of the fact that an oregano
bottle will add up to the weight and it wont balance
out. Therefore, I came up with another plan where I
inserted the seed dispenser underneath the plate. I
made the seed dispenser in a box shaped way which
could open and close.
With the connector, seed dispenser and flattener
done, I made the frame of the robot. I used
many H – shaped pegs and Thumb pegs in
order to increase the strength of the robot. I did
not add the plates in the very front of the robot
because it would have interfered with the
grabber. Instead, I put 3 long axles together and
used that to make the frame stronger.
Eventually, I started making the grabber and the
base. I connected them both together and then
attached it to the connector I made in the very
beginning. I connected the motors with wires and
added batteries into the NXT brain.
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Criteria D
Programing and Testing the Robot
I started to do a small check on the robot. I noticed that the robot was slightly
tilting and that the height of the robot was more at the back side and the height was
less at the front. Therefore, I added bigger wheels in order to balance it out. I also
made the frame a bit stronger by adding some beams here and there. In addition, I
added wheels in the front to balance the whole robot out. After all this, it was time
to program it.

I made a simple program of the robot moving forward. I realized that it was not
dropping any seeds. So, I made a program of the robot moving forward and
backward and tested that out. It was sort of working, but not up to the mark where I
was expecting it to be. So, I used the drilling machine to make the holes bigger and
then tested it. It was working just fine.

Success of the Solution against the Success

Criteria
The first part of the success criteria talks about the aesthetics. I think that the
product fills that criteria because it is visually appealing and the colors have been
used well. In addition, the frame is giving it a stunning look. The only thing that
could have been improved are the wheels.
The second part of the success criteria talks about stability and strength. I think that
when I made the product, it was lacking a bit of strength. However, in testing, I
changed the parts a bit in order to make it stronger. I would not say that the product
excels in that part but I think it is good enough.
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The third part talks about the weight balance. I have balanced out the product
equally as the NXT brick is mounted in the center of the motors and in the center
of the whole robot. The third motor in the front adds a bit of weight but it is
equalized by the seed dispenser and the flattener at the back of the robot.
The last part of the success criteria is the Functionality. I think that I have done
good enough in this part, if not exceled because I think that the robot was not
completing the function on some surfaces. But it was completing the function on
the mud.
To conclude, I have exceled in most parts of the success criteria. I think that the
strongest point of the product is without doubt, the weight balance and I think that
the stability and strength part is the weakest.

Improving the product

I think that the product could be improved by making the robot more stable. The
frame of the robot tends to increase in elevation when it comes across a bump. So,
I think that is one of the major things that could be improved in the product.
Another thing I feel that could have been improved are the wheels. The wheels are
very thick and it would have been better if fatter wheels were available because it
dies down the aesthetic part.

Impact of the solution on the world

Planting trees are very important to the world as they provide multiple things such
as oxygen, water and helping the water cycle. So, my product will help in
reforestation at a small scale. Recently, the amazon forest was on fire and almost
destroyed. The amazon forest produces about 20 percent of the world’s oxygen.
Therefore, we should plant more trees with the help of my product.
To add on, planting a tree is not enough. You have to take care of it till the end. You
should keep on watering it so that it grows and don’t leave it at all.