DESIGN:

Our team used SolidWorks to design the parts needed for our project. We divided the work between ourselves; I was in charge of designing and printing the middle slider pieces that could accurately hold the belt and aluminum bars with a press fit. Meanwhile, my partner was responsible for designing the mounts that would attach to each side of the bar and pulleys. We both came up with our own ideas for an actuator (seed dispenser) so that we would have two options to test and choose from when building the final design. For my part, I designed a hopper system where a solenoid at the bottom of the hopper would push open and close a gate. My partner designed a mount for a seed dispenser found on Amazon that could be actuated via a solenoid.

BUILDING:

We used 3D printing to fabricate most of the parts needed for this project. Although we had to use a drill press to adjust some of the holes, there was little manufacturing required for this project besides basic assembly. The majority of the build time was spent ensuring that all the parts were firmly and properly assembled. However, we encountered a problem with 3D printing tolerances. Since the way a part was aligned or set up could often cause the material to warp, we had to adjust some parts by adding or filing material after post-printing or reprinting entirely.

CODING:

Lastly, the project was coded using G-Code in Repitier. G-Code was able to accurately control each liner-drive stepper motor individually or simultaneously allowing for free movement along the x and y axis. The stepper motor on the rack and pinion actuator could also be programmed to move a specified distance up and down in the z-axis, as well as the solenoid (for the seed dispenser) being able to actuate in the z-axis providing a final half degree of freedom. A script was the written which would move the device to the start of a planter, actuate the rack and pinion motor to push a hole into the dirt, move to align the seed dispenser with the hole, and then dispense seeds into that hole. This would then repeat to create two rows and four columns of planted seeds before returning to zero and ending the program.

See video demonstration of project here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1ADtxkjpBTxIGR8mxQMStaJB8VEgogqoY