Let There be Mist...

Team boat mister begins testing on one of their two initial prototypes. Shown below is the 3/8" tubing system with brass compression misting nozzle unions. A fine enough mist is being produced where if you hold your hand a foot or more away from the nozzles, no water condenses on your hand.

From here we plan to complete construction of our second prototype which utilizes push-lock unions and 1/4" line. Also, we plan on completing the design of the housing unit which will hold the pump, battery and various tubing connections.

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Interface Device Progress

Issac provides some insight into the Intelligent Child Computer Interface groups interface device.

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Software Modification

Recently, Sean from the ICCI group made some interesting software acomplishments. See video below for more details. 

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Team ICCI- Projector Mount

We are currently designing an efficient way to mount a large projector within our tent. Some constraints we have considered are making the mount easy to assemble and disassemble, suspending the projector securely, and ensuring that our tent can support all of the equipment we are placing inside of it.
After taking all of these factors into account, we have decided to order two six foot steel bars that will run across the top of the tent providing support for the projector. We are working on finding a mount to attach the projector to these bars securely.

For prototyping purposes, Logan designed and constructed a mount for our pocket projector to be suspended from the bars already apart of our tent.

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Current Progress

Over the course of this month we have made a great deal of progress:

Currently, Team ICCI is working on three different interfaces for their system. Isaac is creating a mouse that functions by clicking, Joe is designing a mouse that performs only mousing, and Sean is developing a mouse that can do both. Sean is also modifying the existing software we are using so that it works with a multi-point device rather than a single-point device. 


Team Boat Mister is solving one problem at a time. They have visited a marina and determined their options for nozzles and tubing. They have two new pumps, one being 100 PSI and the other 200 PSI. They now are creating a combination of different options in order to make the system aesthetically pleasing.


Team Dehumidifier is working on their prototype. They are trying different ways to set up their system. As a team, they are deciding if they should use a pump, the aquamat, or a combination of the two.  Also, Ian is gathering data from a sensor that detects the amount of moisture in the soil. This will allow them to determine if the plant is receiving a sufficient supply of water.

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Team Mister Takes a Trip to the Marina

On November 5th, Alex and Max went to the Saratoga Boat Works Marina to look at a variety of boats where our project may be applied. We were able to photograph and observe the various types of boats and how their designs will affect our project.

From there we decided to go to Allerdice, a local hardware store where we talked with a representative about water pumps. The store itself did not carry the specialized high pressure pump we require, however the representative we spoke with had valuable information regarding misting systems and the components that we will implement into our design.

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Volunteer Work

Upon entering this team, we decided that each of us would strive to obtain at least 40 hours of community service over the course of the year. Our response to aid and guidance that we have received.

Currently we have initiated a tutoring schedule, in which the members of the Inven Team will be staying after school each day to help out fellow students in corresponding Project Lead the Way courses. Our goal is to be able to have at least one EDD member in each of the three classrooms available every day. I have created a public google calendar, where members can reserve rooms for tutoring and keep track of their hours. It can be found at: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=awakes113%40gmail.com&ctz=America/New_York

Also, Max and Logan have been volunteering at the Division Street Elementary School Lego Club. The club gives 3rd and 5th graders a chance to learn problem solving skills and expand their engineering knowledge. The students also get the opportunity to use and program one of three Lego NXT robots. There are 15 elementary students that will meet for 9 weeks, after this time a new group of students will enter the club. The Lego Club meets every monday from 3:30 to 5:30. Max and Logan have been guiding the students in programing the robot and constructing models. We hope to get the majority of the team involved in this project.

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Laptop Stands

Over the last few weeks, I have been working on getting the new InvenTeam fundraising site ready to launch. It will allow people to buy different products that we make such as acrylic laptop stands that we make out of acrylic plastic sheets using our laser cutter and a strip bender. Last years InvenTeam sold them as a fundraiser and it was very successful. It should be ready to launch at the end of this week. We hope that this will generate more money for us to continue moving forward with our projects.

Some pictures of our stands.

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Dehumidifier Team's Trip To Dehn's Flowers

Our team, consisting of David Martuscello, Brooke Ruggiero, and Ian Kettlewell, made a trip to Dehn's Flowers on Beekman Street. Our intent was to discuss the possibility of using wicks to water plant soil, and to discuss which plants would grow well in an indoor environment. We were able to have a discussion with John of Dehn's Flowers. He introduced us to the Aqua mat, a material which seeps water to soil through the process of passive hydroponics. They were kind enough to donate a piece of the Aquamat material to us.

Dehn's Flowers is located at 180 Beekman Street:

John also recommended a plant that would grow well under our conditions. Spathiphyllum, also known as Peace Lily, is a plant that grows well in indoor lighting, cleans the air of contaminants, and is watered about once a week.

We are setting up experiments to test the use of the Aquamat within our system, and plan to revisit Dehn's Flowers to gather more information soon.

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