Happy New Year from the Hydrators! Great news to kick off the new year. Our stable partner (Vernadee Stables) has agreed to set up a permanent location to test our prototype in the field. Andrew’s progress on the programming is going well, especially with sensor integration.
The Progress Log: 12/20/2019
Andrew has been coming in weekly to work with John to finalize the prototype in preparation in installing the third prototype at Vernadee Stables.
The Progress Log: 11/22/2019
Our most recent issue has been consistent livestock detection. We have tested a variety of PIR and movement sensors that have failed for a number of reasons, but have finally settled on a specific ultrasonic sensor. We are mounting 3 of them to get a greater field of detection and are working are integrating them into our current code base.
The Progress Log: 10/4/2019
We continue to work on the issues with our post prototype, but our patent has been filed.
The Progress Log: 9/16/2019
Once again, apologies for the lack of communication for the blog posting. Over the past year, our main focus was to tune up our post and retrofit it into the first place, which is Vernadee Stables. Our post has failed a few times and we are still working to find a solution.
The Progress Log: 12/2/2018
From these past weeks, we are still progressing in terms of hardware and software for our post and hoping to get it into a pasture. Additionally, we have received a provisional patent and registering for the Google Science Fair.
The Progress Log: 10/21/2018
We are currently working on measurements for our next prototype that may end up in a pasture!
The Progress Log: 9/14/2018
Our humblest apologies for the lack of feed on the blog page. We have now decided to prepare to plant our post at a stable called Vernadee Stables. As the Hydrators, we took measurements at the stable to adjust our post measurements. We are now preparing all the components for the post to function which may soon be in use!
The Progress Log: 3/24/2018
Today we worked on circuiting and building the electrical components of our post. We worked on our valve and our switches that control it, and we stressed over proper wiring and wiring techniques. As well, we worked on the Arduino program, and we are advancing at a steady and consistent pace. Finally, we made advancements with patents, and we are very excited to see what the future holds for us as a whole, and the H20 Post.
The Progress Log: 2/10/2018
Today we were finishing up planning for our presentation for the Ontario Innovation Celebration. We formulated a very interactive presentation. We also have an open house coming up at our place of work, E-Bots, where we will be showing off our post on February 19 of family day weekend.
The Progress Log: 2/3/2018
Today was a busy work day, we worked hard on trying to complete the construction of our arduino which will be in our post. As well, we are working on our programming for the Arduino. Team members that are also on another FLL team were working hard on creating a script and a plan for the Ontario Global Innovation, as their team won the Provincial West event. Today was not a necessarily busy or eventful day, but instead a hard working and productive session.
The Progress Log: 1/28/18
Today our team was invited to the Ontario Provincial West competition, with half of our team competing in the actual event with their new teams, and the rest of us volunteering and explaining our project to the public at our booth. We were very lucky to be invited to the University of Waterloo to attend the event as the current Global Innovation Award winners. It was a fantastic day, and we were also invited on stage to present our project, to the tens of teams competing. At the end of the day we were even allowed to be a part of the high five line, and hand out the awards to the invitees of the Ontario Innovation Competition, the very same competition we competed at, and then won. All in all it was an amazing and incredible experience for all of us, and we’ll like to thank First Canada for allowing us to attend.
The Progress Log: 1/13/2018
Today our team was invited to the Ontario Provincial East competition, where we set up a booth for both our last year robot, and for our project. We talked and discussed with other teams competing, and we even handed out the OIC (Ontario Innovation Competition) invitations to the winning teams. Overall, it was an amazing day and a wonderful experience, allowing us to still be involved in the FLL scene, and giving us the opportunity to bond and learn with other teams, while still being able to mentor them. We are very privileged to be invited to the event, and we would like to thank First Canada for allowing us to do so. It was an incredible experience none of us will forget!
The Progress Log: 1/2/2018
We have returned from our Holidays and are back at work in a new year. We have been given many new opportunities by FLL to present our project, and give out invitations to the Ontario Innovation Celebration (which we participated in and moved on to Washington DC from last year) at both the Ontario West and East competitions. We have also started planning for a workshop we will be running for teams at the OIC, where we will share our experiences and tips on patenting, prototyping, and much more. We have run into the dilemma that 4 of our team members are actually competing in the Ontario West and East competitions with their new FLL teams! We have worked around our schedules and have been working on a way to include everyone. Today, we are making great progress on making our product to put in a pasture. We have been programming and gathering parts.
Here is our Ontario Innovation Award from last year... the one which would lead us to Washington DC!
The Progress Log: 10/29/2017
This weekend we worked on starting to code our new prototype, working with new hardware and trying to implement them. Due to the absence of half our team due to other sports competitions we did not complete as much as we hoped to, but we still made solid progress with the members that were available. We also made some good progress with our new website, which is still in the works. We hope to continue at the pace of work that we have been able to keep, and we hope to get our prototype earlier than expected. Hopefully things keep on working and going our way, but we all know that that probably won’t be the case! - The Hydrators
The Progress Log: 10/22/2017
This weekend was another very important weekend for us, as we were invited to present our journey, project and robot to Lakeside Process Controls in Mississauga. On the 22nd (Sunday), we practiced our lines one more time before the big day on the 23rd (Monday). Our rehearsals went very well, and we were all feeling excited and ready for the presentation. On the 23rd, we were greeted by some of the staff at Lakeside Process Controls, and we quickly set up. Our presentation was received exceptionally well, and we got a ton of intricate answers and there was a very good discussion at the end. We all had an amazing time this weekend, and we are exceptionally lucky and thankful for Lakeside Process Controls hosting us. - The Hydrators
The Progress Log: 9/23/2017
This weekend was a busy and important one for all of us. We started the weekend with a half hour skype call with the FLL kickoff event in Ottawa, and we participated in a Q&A session as well as an explanation of our season and some words of encouragement for other teams. This was a gateway for our meeting the following day, where we discussed even more advancement and possible changes to our prototype. This involved the possible addition of PIR (Passive Infrared), and the removing of RFID and Ultrasonic, as we try to make the switch from how much a horse drinks to the time it would drink for, and the trends that it would create. We also worked on the development of our new website (the one you’re currently on !) and we plan on continuing to develop and make this site better and better. We also started documenting the post using an application called Fritzingtm which will allow us to see how our post should look like if any wires get dislocated. We also worked on the creation of our presentation scripts, that we would put into play on October 23rd as we present to Lake Side Controls. Overall this weekend was busy but we made solid progress as we start to get into the wing of things. - The Hydrators
The Progress Log: 9/16/2017
Our second meeting showed some very advanced and thoughtful thinking, with the brunt of the conversation being based around multiple changes that could happen with our watering post. One of them would be the replacement of the flow meters with a device that would calculate the time that the horses have drank. This would allow us to use trends, which would be easier to read and understand than raw numerical data. As well, the use of PIR (Passive Infrared) instead of Ultrasonic sensors. As well, we have thought of the problems surrounding the RFID reader and how it could create a bubble outside of the post. However, we have all begun thinking of solutions and alternatives to all these problems and we all know of the roles we have to accomplish next week. We are all looking forward to getting into the swing of things as we start this new and exciting chapter of our season. - The Hydrators
The Progress Log: 9/9/2017
This day marked a new chapter in The Hydrators. Not only have we started working on the current FLL year, HydroDynamics, but we have started work on our MVP (Market Viable Product), our new H2O Post prototype. Today we each realized that we must all take ownership for important parts of the project that would span the rest of our season. We split each other up to work and take leadership of important sections of our project, such as: research; emailing experts; and even social media, and our new website. We each took our strengths and applied them to the subjects we would be working on. For example, Adi, who is very creative, took part of the website design and building. We all worked very hard to start our work for the rest of the season, and we are all very excited for what the rest of this very special season would hold for us. We would also like to take this time to thank all of our supporters for helping us achieve all that we have, and for putting us where we are today. - The Hydrators
