“It’s a MacGyver’ hobby. You can buy prepacked packages, or you can get pieces and parts and tinker with them.”-
Dan Lubkeman, President of the Hydroponics Society of America.
My chosen skill:
For my In-Depth this year I wanted to focus and learn more about Arduino and engineering. Arduino is an electronic-based coding and building system that can be used to create things like a working robotic arm. To make it easier to work within the timeline of the science experiment I made the decision to incorporate both together. This would work on helping me learn about both the building/engineering and the farming/hydroponic sides of this project.
Why:
I chose this because I’ve been interested in coding since around grade 3 and engineering/ building things has always been a passion of mine. Working with my love for these things, the idea of getting to code and design a working system sounded really fun.
Goals:
I have three main goals for my In-depth this year; number one, learning and having the ability to confidently code and understand what I am doing. Number two, building a working hydroponic system would be very important so that next year I can have information to base it on. Number three, my final goal is to have the skills to both design and build my system and have enough information to know what I am doing.
Questions:
My main question while starting to work on this project is what the differences are between Arduino coding and javascript. From some of my other coding classes, I learned java which gives me a basic idea of the factors and building blocks of coding are.
Plan/process:
The plan to follow for me to complete and have a good understanding is pretty simple. In the beginning, the plan is to learn and design what I need to build and make sure it makes sense. The majority of this will be building and commissioning my hydroponic system to make sure it works and works well.
Mentor:
My mentor is a family friend named Link Simpson. He is an electrical engineer and has 15 years of experience in the industrial systems industry. He also has a background in electronic component building and design for things like the military and the aerospace industry. Link can help me understand more about what I’m doing and what the best way to do it is. This way I can have a good and working final product at the end of this.