PRE2020 4 Group6

Members	Student ID	Faculty	E-mail
Marijn Borghouts	1449532	BMT	m.m.borghouts@student.tue.nl
Bert de Groot	1459597	ME	g.d.groot@student.tue.nl
Nando di Antonio	1465325	ME	n.z.d.antonio@student.tue.nl
Dorien Duyndam	1305107	EE	d.a.duyndam@student.tue.nl

Subject Of this project

The idea is to create a smart plant system that would notify the user if it needs either water or more or less sunlight. The target group is a social workspace (zorginstelling) for mentally disabled people. They can see or hear when a plant needs attention and get that plant what it needs. The social workers will therefore do something useful which is valuable to them. The people monitoring this social workspace will also get work relief because of this system because they don’t have to tell the impaired person what to do with the plants anymore. The plant pot will probably get a nice face so that it looks friendly. It will need water sensors implemented in the soil and light sensors around the plant to monitor the amount of light the plant gets. The pot will also give positive feedback when given water.

Approach

In order to realise this idea, a well-structured approach needs to be made and followed. The following steps were made by group 6:

• Making a plan and schedule
• Defining goals
• Literary study
• USEr analysis
• RPC lists
• Electrical components
• Software
• 3D printing
• Promotion video
• Assembling and testing the prototype
• Contacting target audience
• Designing an experiment and making a hypothesis
• Real-life testing (executing the experiment)
• Reviewing the experiment
• Discussion the project and possible improvements
• Giving a presentation

Plan/Schedule (and logbook of work that was done)

Week 1

• Come up with an idea (all)

• Make the planning (Bert, Nando)

• Find relative papers (all)

• Decide who the USErs will be (all)

• Research about why it is good for the users (all)

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	10	Group formation(0.5), watched lectures(0.5), done research about the subject(3), searched for sources about the subject(4), edited the cstwiki(2)
Bert	10	Group formation(0.5), watched lectures(0.5), done research about the subject(3), searched for sources about the subject(4), edited the cstwiki(2)
Nando	10	Group formation(0.5), watched lectures(0.5), done research about the subject(3), searched for sources about the subject(4), edited the cstwiki(2)
Dorien	10	Group formation(0.5), watched lectures(0.5), done research about the subject(3), searched for sources about the subject(4), edited the cstwiki(2)

Week 2

• Literature study (all)

• Contact the carehouses for information (Nando, Dorien)

• Improve USErs section on wiki (Marijn)

• List the needs this user requires (Marijn, Dorien)

• Research about possible components (Nando, Bert)

• RPC list (Dorien, Marijn)

• Design an electrical circuit (Bert)

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	10	Group meeting (2x2u), Improving the users/society/enterprise section (1u), Literature study into the needs of people with DS (2u), improving our schedule and gathering action points for this week(1u), redefining our goals and thinking about a way to test those (2u)
Bert	10	meetings (5.5u), research about components (2u), designing possible electrical circuit (0.5u), thinking about questions we want to ask (2u)
Nando	13	Group meeting (1x1u and 1x3.5u), Improving the approach section(0.5u), literary study into simular systems that already exist(4u), meeting with a caretaker and processing the results(4u)
Dorien	9.5	Group meetings (1+3.5h), literary study into the approach of people with DS (2h), prepare questions to healthcare institutions (2h), prepare mails and calls to healthcare institutions (1h)

Week 3

• Research about the components and order them (Nando, Dorien)

• Adjust the planning with the test weeks (Dorien)

• Make CAD design of the 3D printed pot (Nando)

• Work on the code (Bert)

• Make test plan for the experiment (Marijn)

• Prepare the experiment (all)

• Re-adjust RPC list (Nando, Marijn)

• Extend the approach section on the wiki (Dorien)

• Make the BoM (Dorien)

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	10.5	Meetings (5h), writing the goals section (1.5h), writing the hypothesis section (1h), writing the experiment section (1h), writing the questionnaire (1h), writing the RPC list (1h).
Bert	11	meetings (5h), contacting care facilities (2h), research about the M5Stack (2h), research about how the programming works (2h)
Nando	9	meetings (5h), research about components and order them (2h), Working on the CAD design (2h)
Dorien	11	Meetings (5h), research about components and order them (2h), make BoM (1h), adjust planning including test week (1h), extend the approach section (2h)

Week 4

• Print the pot (Nando)

• Pick up the components of the system (Dorien)

• Built the system, finish the first, start with the second

• Start testing the code (Bert)

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	11	Group meetings 4h, Making the email with questionnaire for hypothetical use 3h, Gather email addresses 1h, Sending all the mails 0.5h, Update RPC list with interface/interaction 0.5h, Making a story board for promo video 1.5h, Exploring possible names for the system 0.5h
Bert	16	Group meetings (4h), getting the M5Stack working (2h), coding the M5Stack (10h)
Nando	14	Group meetings 4h, making the design in NX 7h, researching the plastics needed for 3d printing 1.5h, setting up the 3d printer/starting the prints 1.5h.
Dorien	8	group meetings (4h), picking up the components and getting the M5Stack working (4h),

Week 5

• Finish the code

• Finish building the second system

• Prepare the experiment

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	13	Meetings 5h, Writing the section about branding 0.5h, Updating questionnaire section and writing the reply section 2h, Creating a plan for the next two weeks+ gathering action-points + diving the work 1h, Start writing the discussion 1.5h, Calling and then remailing as many contact points as possible 3h.
Bert	12	Meetings (5h), working on the code (7h)
Nando	11	Meetings (4h), trouble shooting the 3D printer(4h), adjusting the 3D model(2h), starting the prints/getting the right slicer settings(1h)
Dorien	11	meetings (5h), connecting the M5Stack Core (2h), working on the code (4h)

Week 6

• Debug the code

• Perfectionalize the hardware

• Finalize preparations for the experiment

• Finish all the wikistuff

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	7.5	Meetings (4h), Updating the results section from calling and mailing (0.5h), Cleaning up our group’s shared notes and making a list of all steps required to finish this project. (0.5h), Making a table with questionnaire responses and updating the results section. (1.5u), Mailing back and forth to come to an agreement on the testing period. (1h)
Bert	hours	tasks
Nando	10	Meetings (4h), troubleshooting the printer (1h), explaining the process on designing/making the print (3h), Post processing(2h)
Dorien	10h	meetings (4h), trying to program of the clock (6h)

Week 7

• Test week -> monitor the experiment (one contact person per carehouse)

• Orden and finalize the cstwiki (the others)

• Start working on the final presentation

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	16.5	Meetings (4h), Mailing and calling to come to an agreement on the testing period. (1.5h), Picking up the compents from different group members (1.5h), Installing and testing the core firmware in my own laptop (2h), Debugging the code (4h), Assembling and adjusting components (2.5h), Shooting and transferring footage for the promotion demo (1h)
Bert	hours	tasks
Nando	hours	tasks
Dorien	Hours	tasks

Week 8

• Gather data from the experiments at the carehouses

• Process the data to a report for the wiki

• Include in final presentation

• Start making the demo

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	19	Meetings (4h), Working with Dorien on campus (3h) Mailing and calling to come to an agreement on the testing period (1h), Waterproofing the system as a whole (0.5h), Debugging the code (6h), Editing the promotion demo (2.5h), Testing the pot myself to find bugs and to finding good threshold values (1h), Getting a real flower for the testing at sdw (0.5h), Making the manual (0.5h)
Bert	hours	tasks
Nando	hours	tasks
Dorien	Hours	tasks

Week 9

• Finalize the cstwiki (all)

• Finalize the final presentation / demo (all)

Name	Total hours	Tasks
Marijn	hours	tasks
Bert	hours	tasks
Nando	hours	tasks
Dorien	Hours	tasks

moet ergens bij

..% of the people born everyday, is born with a mental disability like Down Syndrome [source]. A lot of those people live in care homes where they are loved and taken care off by the caretakers. Though the mental disabled live in a care home because they cannot live independently, it brings great satisfaction to be as independent as possible [source], and thus we designed a tool that helps them with that.

To achieve our goals, we first need to read ourselves into the subject. Literature study is needed to understand the problem we want to make a solution for; for whom exactly we are making the system and what it needs to be capable of. Therefore a USEr analysis needs to be made. This reflects on our solution to the problem from the perspective of the user (U), how it will benefit the society (S), and how it will be realistic from and beneficial for the enterprise (E). Also an RPC (requirements, preferences, constraints) list for the system and a list of user requirements need to be made.

Parallel to that, we need to think about the technical side of our system. Research about the components needs to be done, as well as a circuit model, the software of the system and the 3D-printed plant pot. When the components are arrived, the system will be built and the software will be uploaded to make sure the system works like we imagined beforehand.

Because of the fact we are designing a solution to a problem that involved mental disables people and their caretakers, the best research, next to literature study, would be to hear it exact form the people involved. Via contacts, an appointment for an interview will be made with a caretaker for more understanding of the problem and to get feedback on more useful functions of our plant pot system, as well as to remove unnecessary parts. Also we need to test our system in the real world. Therefore, in the meantime the experiment must be prepared and executed on time.

Goals

To make a successful project that proven to be successful, we need to define clear measurable goals and a way to test them.

Our main goal is to add something to the daily lives of people with DS. We want to give them a way to spend their time, and give them something to care for. Interacting and caring for the plant should be a hobby, something that they enjoy doing and spending time on. This is a beautiful idealistic goal that improves the wellbeing of these people and can therefore be marketed as a healthcare product that could even be covered by healthcare insurance.

This can be measured by keeping track of how much time is spent interacting with our pot compared to a control plant that does not have our systems attached to it. Secondly, we can question the users about their overall experience with our product. We do this by asking the users to rate individual aspects of this product on a 5 point scale as an improvement over normal plants? This way we get a quantitative measure of what our system adds to the weekly routine (time and enjoyment wise).

Our second goal is to improve the independence of the users with DS and teach them how to care for something. Our product provides routine and clear simple instruction. This will help the people with DS to take care of the plants themselves without any external help from caretakers. This improves their independence which is a trait that is heavily valued by the caretakers we interviewed. When these people become more independent they require less care and gain more freedom, which improves their quality of life. Secondly, this product will develop the skill to care for something. This is a useful skill for people who need care. If you teach these people basic caring skills they can help themselves and each other better.

Testing the increase in independence and caring skills from 1 week of usages will be difficult since changes are expected to be small and these characteristics are not so simple to measure. Hence this will probably be assessed by the caretakers who will be present during the testing stage.

Our third goal is to remove some workload from the caretakers. We know that it is not always easy to work in the (health)care sector and especially with the covid-19 situation the pressure on these people is high. If our product manages to independently keep the people with DS occupied, it will mean more free time for the caretakers to spend on others work or just relax a bit so this goal ties in with the second goal.

This can be tested by comparing the time a caretaker spends on helping these people take care of normal plants VS the time spent installing and explaining our product. If our product proves to be too complicated to use, we can get feedback from the caretakers that it took too much time and energy to adapt to the new system and that it was not as independent as we had hoped.

Our fourth and least important goal is to improve the health of the plants. Having healthy plants benefit the air quality and the overall look of a space [SOURCES]. Secondly, it is nice if the care institution has to less regularly buy new plants, this saves time and money (which are already scarce resources).

This can be tested by starting off with two plants of the same type and health. One will be the control plant and the other will be planted in our pot. Both will be placed in the care home. After the testing period, the health of both plants will be assed. We do realise that assessing plant health is a bit subjective and that the sample size is really low, but we have to make do with what we can do in the restricted time and budget. It is also interesting to note that a smart pot that improves plant health is also an interesting product for the agricultural sector and greenhouse industry, seeing how dutch farmers need to produce with high efficiency to compete in the market because of the high prices for ground.

Objectives

Cost efficient/Affordable

The prototype should make optimal use of the available resources. Furthermore the components and assembly process should be as cheap as possible to reduce the total production cost, making the design cheaper for users (or obtaining a bigger profit margin for the vendor)

Easy to use

The prototype should be easy to install and operate. This is especially important considering the target audience of mentally handicap people. This product is designed to help these people with doing more complex tasks. If the operation of the product is not extreme straight forward it will only work counter effectively.

Friendly/Positive reinforcement

We want the product to interact nicely with the user. The product should communicate with the user in a friendly manner and compliment the users when they perform an action. This makes the product more pleasant to use and the explicit positive reinforcement confirm to the mentally disabled people that they are in fact doing a good job.

Deliverables

• The first deliverable will be this wiki page. It logs our progression and helps the tutors and other people with an interest in our project to follow the progression of the project.

• The second deliverable will be our physical prototype of the greenhouse climate management system.

• The third deliverable is the final presentation, in which we present our project for our teachers and peers.

Literary study

Section one: sources on existing smart greenhouse control systems

[1] Abbassy, M. M., & Ead, W. M. (2020). Intelligent Greenhouse Management System. 2020 6th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems, ICACCS 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICACCS48705.2020.9074345

This paper mentions an robotic intelligent greenhouse management system. Which reads out the water level, humidity, and measures the moisture content of the soil based on real-time area data. With arduino components.

[2]Kaneda, Y., Ibayashi, H., Oishi, N., & Mineno, H. (2015). Greenhouse environmental control system based on SW-SVR. Procedia Computer Science, 60(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.08.249

This paper includes information about the general design of a greenhouse automatic environment control system.

[3]Kokieva, G. E., Trofimova, V. S., & Fedorov, I. R. (2020). Greenhouse microclimate control. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1001(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1001/1/012136

This paper discusses (the lack of) a mathematical model to control greenhouse temperature and heat transfer.

[4]Kumar, A., Singh, V., Kumar, S., Jaiswal, S. P., & Bhadoria, V. S. (2020). IoT enabled system to monitor and control greenhouse. Materials Today: Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.040

This paper includes diagrams of arduino (components) and wiring to assemble a greenhouse management system.

[5]Sri Jahnavi, V., & Ahamed, S. F. (2015). Smart wireless sensor network for automated greenhouse. IETE Journal of Research, 61(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/03772063.2014.999834

This source includes information on all types of smart sensors aimed at a smart greenhouse.

[6]Von Borstel, F. D., Suárez, J., De La Rosa, E., & Gutiérrez, J. (2013). Feeding and water monitoring robot in aquaculture greenhouse. Industrial Robot, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.1108/01439911311294219

This paper contains the design of a robotic system to feed aquatic organisms and measure water physicochemical parameters in experimental aquaculture ponds. Our own system is focused on plants but the robotic monitoring of environmental parameters is of interest here.

[7]Zhang, C. (2018). Greenhouse intelligent control system based on microcontroller. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1955. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5033697

This paper contains a chart with components of a greenhouse control system, including information on the circuitry per module, and a flow chart of how the software should work.

[8]Zhao, R., & Lu, L. (2020). Automatic Temperature and Humidity Detection and Alarm System for Greenhouse. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 512(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/512/1/012099

This paper designs and implements the monitoring and alarm system of temperature and humidity of a greenhouse.

[9]Loram, A., Warren, P., Thompson, K., & Gaston, K. (2011). Urban Domestic Gardens: The Effects of Human Interventions on Garden Composition. Environmental Management, 48(4), 808–824. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9723-3

This paper talks about how taking care of plants works stress-relieving.

[10]Pedrinolla, A., Tamburin, S., Brasioli, A., Sollima, A., Fonte, C., Muti, E., Smania, N., Schena, F., & Venturelli, M. (2019). An Indoor Therapeutic Garden for Behavioral Symptoms in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 71(3), 813–823. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-190394

This paper is about fardening as a therapy for people with Alheimers disease.

[11]George, D. R. (2013). Harvesting the Biopsychosocial Benefits of Community Gardens. American Journal of Public Health, 103(8), e6. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2013.301435

This paper is about how community gardens work for people with other mental illnesses, so it could also work on people with down syndrome.

[12]George, D. R., Kraschnewski, J. L., & Rovniak, L. S. (2011). Public Health Potential of Farmers’ Markets on Medical Center Campuses: A Case Study From Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. American Journal of Public Health, 101(12), 2226–2232. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2011.300197

This paper is about how farmer-markets work positively on the health of people.

[13]Wieseler, N. A., Hanson, R. H., Chamberlain, T. P., & Thompson, T. (1988). Stereotypic behavior of mentally retarded adults adjunctive to a positive reinforcement schedule. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 9(4), 393–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-4222(88)90033-9

A paper about a study which evaluated the indirect effects on stereotypic frequency when the value of a concurrent fixed-interval reinforcement schedule for adaptive behaviour was varied.

[14]Weatherley, P. E. (1976). Introduction: water movement through plants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 273(927), 435–444. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1976.0023

This paper explains how water movement in plants work.

[15]Carder, C. (2004). Irrigation systems. Rocky Mountain Construction, 85(20), 5. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/trade-journals/irrigation-systems/docview/196317404/se-2?accountid=27128

A paper about the irrigation technology being used currently

[16]Vijendra Babu, D. (2020). Automatic Irrigation Systems for Efficient usage of Water using Embedded Control Systems. 993 012077

A paper about a similar project being done

[17]Mudiyanti, R. (2019). Design watering system on greenhouse using microcontroller with matrix based. iopscience.iop.org. 1280 022067

This paper is about desiging a watering system on a greenhouse using microcontroller with matrix based

[18]Gafni, V. (1999). Robots: A Real-Time Systems Architectural Style. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, 24(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1145/318774.318786 This paper gives a broad description of what robots are

[19]Angela P. Presson, Ginger Partyka, … Edward R.B. McCabe, Current Estimate of Down Syndrome Population Prevalence in the United States, The Journal of Pediatrics, Volume 163, Issue 4, 2013, Pages 1163-1168, ISSN 0022-3476, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.06.013.

A paper about how often the syndrome of down occurs

[20]Robert A. Catalano, Down syndrome, Survey of Ophthalmology, Volume 34, Issue 5, 1990, Pages 385-398, ISSN 0039-6257, https://doi.org/10.1016/0039-6257(90)90116-D.

This paper goes really deep into what the syndrome of down actually is

[21]Mark Selikowitz. Down Syndrome. Vol 3rd ed. OUP Oxford; 2008. Accessed April 22, 2021. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=467605&site=ehost-live

This paper is about raising children with down syndrome

[22]Chao, D., & Lin, H. (2010). The tricks plants use to reach appropriate light. Science China Life Sciences, 53(8), 916–926. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-010-4047-8

This paper explains how plants make sure they get the right amount of light, so not too much and not too little.

[23]Vanderbilt, V., & Grant, L. (1985). Plant Canopy Specular Reflectance Model. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, GE-23(5), 722–730. https://doi.org/10.1109/tgrs.1985.289390

A model for the amount of light specularly reflected and polarised by a plant.

[24]Roberts, E., & Burleigh, M. (2010). Watering Systems for Success in Growing Plants, Using Low pH and Ammonium Nitrogen. Cactus and Succulent Journal, 82(6), 266–275. https://doi.org/10.2985/0007-9367-82.6.266

The paper describes what changes should be made to the water that is used in the system in order to get the best results.

[25]Drury, & Sally. (2011). Watering, bedding plants and tubs. Horticulture week, 34. https://search-proquest-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/trade-journals/watering-bedding-plants-tubs/docview/872335545/se-2?accountid=27128

This paper explains when it is the best time of day to water certain plants.

[26]Rogers, P. (1993). Watering is crucial to plants: [ALL Edition]. Telegram & Gazette, G1. https://search-proquest-com.dianus.libr.tue.nl/newspapers/watering-is-crucial-plants/docview/268517145/se-2?accountid=27128

This paper explain why it is important that plants get the right amount of water.

USEr analysis

User

The main target group for this product is people with a mental disability. The product is designed to help the users overcome some of the challenges that they face due to their disability. "Mental disability" is a very broad term and can out itself on a whole spectrum of problems, ranging from difficulty with speaking to recognising emotions. For the sake of making a more tailored product, we have decided to focus on people with Down syndrome. This decision allows us to gather more specific needs and requirements from the users (which can be found in its own section).

Our robot will notify the user by speech when a plant needs more or less water, or more or less sunlight. This way the product helps the user take care of a plant without having to do complex tasks like remembering when and how often a plant needs water or sunlight. Our robot gives simple, chopped up clear instructions so that the user knows what is being expected from him/her. After a task is completed, the robots will give confirmation in the form of positive feedback to the user. This helps assure the user that a task has been successfully completed. This way our product makes caring for plants more accessible for people with Down syndrome. which has all types of benefits (see Sources XXXX)

The secondary users are the caretakers. The product is meant to be used by people with Down syndrome but is meant to be bought and installed by the caretakers. This device helps relieve workload from the caretakers by automating a part of the managing and task distribution process in a social work environment. Therefore it is important to always be mindful of who the users of specific functions is and what their needs and capabilities are.

Society

Some say that a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members (famous misquote NOT by Ghandi {Does this need an extra source?}). We realise that our product will not solve any world crisis or drastically improve the farming capacity of social workspaces, but it helps people who need a little bit more care. Our robot allows people with Down syndrome to more easily perform work, giving them a way to spend their day and make themselves (somewhat) useful. This benefits society by allowing better participation across all layers of society and show empathy and care toward those who need it the most.

Secondly, this helps relieve some of the workload of social caregivers who are often overworked. Financing for this sector generally low {does this need a source?} and our product might save some valuable time by automating some simple repetitive tasks.

Enterprise

This product of course has to be developed and manufactured. This creates jobs and potential revenue which is all good for the economy. Products of these types do already exist (see sources XXXX) but there are mainly focused on increasing greenhouse yield. This product has a different goal and is therefore unique enough to not have to deal with fierce competition in the market, giving it a fair shot at succeeding in our opinion.

Branding, themes, and names

A good marketable product needs a brand name. With its own name, customers can more easily refer to your product and you create a more memorable experience. After a good reputation has been established your brand name can help sell other products since people know they can expect quality products from a reputable brand. Lastly, branding helps to set your product apart from competitors [1]. There are entire studies and companies that solely focus on branding and marketing. Branding is not really an area on which we have decided to spend our limited resources for this assignment. However, we did brainstorm on some names and themes for our smart plant pot. We have concluded that theming the pot was unnecessary for this prototype. We considered giving it a pop-icon theme that would be recognised and like by most users, but this very quickly leads to problems with copyright. Secondly, we feared that theming the pot would take away attention from the display and lights that the pot uses to gain the attention of the users in its surroundings. Thirdly, we thought that the caretakers might prefer a clean white design as opposed to a spiderman-pot with a tulip in it. The caretakers are the ones who have to purchase and install the system, so their preferences are also of interest.

For the name of the product, we have considered a few options. In the end, we have decided to go with FLEUR. This is a common Dutch name that is easy to remember and pronounce. FLEUR is a name derived from words for flower or flowering, we found this to be fitting since our product is designed to house a plant, of which many have flowers and in our test period we will fill it with a tulip.

• [1] https://www.brandingmag.com/2015/10/14/what-is-branding-and-why-is-it-important-for-your-business/#:~:text=Branding%20is%20important%20because%20not,to%20expect%20from%20your%20company.&text=There%20are%20many%20areas%20that,responsibility%2C%20reputation%2C%20and%20visuals

Experiment

To test whether our smart pot achieves the stated goal we will perform two simultaneous tests that are one week long. For each test, we will need two similar plants that are in similar health. The plant that we have chosen for this experiment is a tulip with a bulb. This was done because 1) they are available in this spring period. 2) They are flowers so we expect them to show relatively large changes over the short testing period of one week. 3) Because they are flowers we hope that the caretakers and the clients like them. 4) The blub prolongs the life of the tulips compared to cut flowers. This way we want to prevent the tulips from dying naturally within a week. 5) Because of the bulb we can plant the tulips into the dirt. Otherwise, it would have been a smart vase, which makes the needs for a moisture sensor obsolete. 6) bulb-in-pots need a bit of water once or twice a week. So the clients actually need to water the plants within that week. 7) Tulips require sunlight but not full sun. This is a bit more interesting in terms of programming our software and using the sensors.

In the experiment, one plant will be placed in a regular pot and will serve as a control. The other plant will be placed in our smart pot. Both plants will then be placed in similar environments (with the same temperature and amount of light) but in different locations (as to not trigger care for the control plant by association with the smart plant). Then the caretakers will introduce the people with DS to the plants and the smart pot and tell them that they have to care for these plants during that week. The caretakers also mention that one plant is a magical talking plant and that it can communicate if it needs something so that the clients will not be scared or too confused.

We know that one week is a very short time span and that a sample size of N=2 is small but we have to work with what we have. After the test period, we will assess the health of both plants to see if one is in better health than the other, suggesting the smart plant influenced the wellbeing of the plant. Due to the situation with Covid-19 we are not allowed to enter the care-houses in person. And due to the mental vulnerability of the clients, their privacy, and the fact that we are strangers to them, we are not allowed to set up a webcam feed to more scientifically measure some parameters like: time spent with the plant. Therefore we will gather results by questioning the caretakers (and the clients indirectly). The results from the two parallel tests will be combined, paying attention to any possibly interesting similarities and differences. From these combined results we will be able to judge whether our product achieved the goals we set for it, and what still needs improvement.

Hypothesis

We expected that we will achieve our main goal of helping people with Down syndrome to have more ways to spend their time in a joyful manner, that is why we decided on this design. We are fairly confident we will reach this prioritized goal when the design experiences no malfunctions during the testing period. This concretely means that the caretakers will rate the “time spend” and “enjoyment” in the questionnaire higher for our smart pot than for the control plant. Our second goal is to take some workload from the caretakers. For this, we expected a negative result but that is due to an unresolvable flaw in the design of the experiment. We hypothesize that the installation process adds extra workload, and so does the becoming accustomed to using the product. We expect that the clients will need some time and guidance from the caretakers when using the smart pot for the first few times. However, we do expect the workload to drop after the product has been fully integrated. Therefore we will also ask the caretakers if they foresee a reduction in workload if the smart pot were to be used longer than a week, say a month. For this, we do expect a positive answer, at least for the client who possess the necessary intellectual capabilities to learn and remember some new skills. Our third goal is to help the client to become more independent and caring. We expect that these characteristics will be hard to measure with such a small sample size and test time. But we might be wrong. It could also be the same that some clients quickly develop a caring fondness for the talking tulip (POSSIBLE NAME?). This again will have to be rated by the caretakers. We expected to measure some degree of increased independence. An increase in independence is defined as a report by the caretaker that the clients get activated by our system to perform a task that they had forgotten in the control plant. Our final goal was to improve the health of the tulip. For this, we expect an inconclusive result. We think that there will be no significant change between the control plant and the smart pot in one week, even if the control plant gets completely forgotten. On the other hand, it could also be the case that our plant model is not ideal or if the instructions aren't followed carefully enough by the client. Which may lead to drowning the smart pot tulip whilst the control plant lives.

Email with questionnaire for hypothetical use

Beste meneer/mevrouw,

Wij zijn een project groep aan de technische universiteit Eindhoven die bezig is met het ontwikkelen van een slimme plantenpot voor mensen met een verstandelijke beperking. Ons systeem moet het verzorgen van een plantje eenvoudiger en leuker maken om zo de dagbesteding en zelfstandigheid van deze mensen positief te beïnvloeden. Om tot het beste ontwerp te komen zijn wij meningen aan het verzamelen van mensen met ervaring in het vakgebied. Wij zouden enorm geholpen zijn als u kort uw mening zou willen geven over ons concept. In de bijlage vind u een korte beschrijving van ons systeem en 4 stellingen waar u een mening dient te omcirkelen, dit alles zal maar 5 tot 10 minuten duren. De antwoorden zullen alleen gebruikt worden ter sturing van het ontwerp proces en we zijn niet geïnteresseerd in persoonlijke gegevens van wat voor vorm dan ook. Als u vragen heeft of meer wilt weten over ons concept beantwoord ik ze graag.

Alvast bedankt en met vriendelijk groet,

Namens de gehele project groep,

Marijn Borghouts

Bijlage

Deze bijlage bevat een korte uitleg over ons concept, opgevolgd door een vragenlijst met slechts 4 stellingen en wat ruimte voor algemene opmerkingen.

Ons concept Planten in huis zorgen voor een leuk aanzicht en voor frisse lucht. Daarnaast kan het verzorgen van planten voor mensen met een verstandelijke beperking goed zijn voor het ontwikkelen van een zorgzaam karakter en het leren volgen van tijdsgebonden routine. Aangezien een plant in een potje met enige regelmaat water nodig heeft. Ons ontwerp beoogt deze positieve effecten van het verzorgen van planten te behouden terwijl het eventuele drempels uit de weg neemt. Daarom hebben wij een slimme plantenpot ontworpen. Deze pot houdt met sensoren de vochtigheid van de grond bij en de hoeveelheid zonlicht die er op de pot schijnt. Aan de hand van deze gegevens bepaalt de pot zelf wanneer het tijd is om de plant die er in zit water te geven of wanneer deze in of uit de zon moet.

De pot doet dit door op een vriendelijke en positieve manier te communiceren met zijn omgeving. De pot beschikt over een speaker, led-lampjes, en een schermpje om zo op verschillende manier de aandacht van iemand in zijn omgeving te trekken. De pot zal dus bijvoorbeeld hardop zeggen dat hij dorst heeft en graag een beetje water wil. Daarbij knipperen er dan blauwe lampjes en is het symbool van een gieter te zien op de pot. Doordat de pot duidelijke korte commando’s geeft en daarna de gebruiker bedankt bij een volbrachte taak hopen wij betrokkenheid en plezier bij de verzorging te vergroten, en de persoon in kwestie zelfstandiger te maken. Aangezien de slimme pot zelf de gebruiker aanstuurt zou dit een klein deel van de werkdruk op de verzorgers kunnen wegnemen.

Vragenlijst

Bij elke stelling dient u één antwoord wat van toepassing is te omcirkelen. Daarnaast is er open ruimte om uw menig te geven of uw antwoordt toe te lichten. Alle feedback is welkom, ook kritische uiteraard. We hebben liever te veel dan te weinig informatie dus wees niet terughoudend.

Stelling 1)

Ik zie de voordelen (zelfstandigheid, dagbesteding, zorgzaamheid) van een slimme pot voor de cliënten in mijn instelling.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor uw mening over de voordelen)

Stelling 2)

Ik denk dat mijn cliënten meer tijd zouden besteden met een slimme pot dan met een normaal plantje.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor uw mening over de besteedde tijd)

Stelling 3)

Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten de slimme plantenpot in de benoemde vorm zelfstandig(er) kunnen verzorgen dan een normaal plantje.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor uw mening over zelfstandigheid)

Stelling 4)

Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten meer plezier ervaren in het verzorgen van een plantje als deze een stem heeft een positieve feedback geeft.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor uw mening over het gebruiksplezier)

Afsluitende vraag)

Eerst willen we u nogmaals bedanken voor uw tijd en mening. Als laatste willen wij u vragen of u eventueel interesse heeft om een eerste prototype van dit ontwerp (gehaal gratis) gedurende een week uit te testen. JA // NEE

Als dat het geval is kunnen we hier nog nader contact over hebben. Uw antwoorden en eventuele vragen kunt u terug sturen naar dit e-mailadres (m.m.borghouts@student.tue.nl)

Met vriendelijke groet,

Marijn Borghouts

Results of the questionnaire

This questionnaire was sent out as an email on Thursday the 13th of May to 13 new, not yet approached, care institutions that were located in Brabant or Limburg. Unfortunately, I immediately got an automated reply that said that one of the persons I was trying to contact was on holiday. That was when we realized that our mails had been sent in the May holiday and that there was a chance that our mail would be far down in the recipient's inbox by the time somebody starts working again. We decided to wait until Wednesday the 19th to see if we would get a reaction. Unfortunately, we did not receive a single one. So on that Wednesday morning, I decided to call as many institutions as I had time for. See the results below. Unfortunately after 3h of work, I still had zero actual replies.

For Kern I could not find a phone number. But I did find another email address tineke.eulderink@onsbrabantnet.nl which I then also mailed.

When I called Cello I got connected to a friendly woman who was willing to help me. Unfortunately, she did not have any experience with mentally disabled people herself. After I told her about FLEUR she told me Cello has an innovation branch, of which the manager is called “Wilma aan den toorn”. The woman I spoke to could not find her number but she gave me the number of the reception. So that they perhaps could help me. [I could always call back her if I had more questions] The reception told me that Wilma does not work for cello anymore and that they didn’t know of a replacement (but she is still a valuable person we could talk to if we find her number). I was connected to somebody at the “training/education branch” and they connected me with somebody who was concerned with this kind of projects. But she doesn’t work on Wednesdays so I had to call her on another day [06 509 09629]

When I called ASVZ I got connected to the reception. They connected me to Corien, the manager, but I got her voicemail which said so would try to call me back. I also found a section about “zorgtechnologie op maat” on their website and an email from the two women who ran that project. tdekker@asvz.nl so I mailed her as well https://www.asvz.nl/actueel/zorgtechnologie-op-maat/

When I called Ketalis I learned that they do not have the mentally disabled people that we are looking for. Ketalis focuses on helping children with language impairment and children who are (nearly) deaf. This is not what we are looking for so this is a dead end.

When I called Daelzicht I got the phone number of Marloe Collart [06 10961267] she is the communication advisor and she would know who I would need to call. But Marloe did not answer the phone ☹.

When I called SDW I was told that my best bet would be sending a mail to bmobs@sdwzorg.nl and asking if there are any work-groups that cover these kinds of projects and if there are any caretakers who are willing to fill in the questionnaire. So that is what I did.

When I called Miriam van Oorschot from Down Vision she did not answer the phone.

When I called Huppetee, I got redirected to a team of 7 women who formed the caretakers group. https://www.huppeteam.nl/begeleiders of these people I can only find 1 email address and I mailed to her already.

After a small pep talk from René van Molengraft, I spend some extra time and effort on the most promising leads. Eventually I got four filled out questionnaires in my mailbox. Of which three people were interested in helping us test the prototype. So the next step will be to make at least 2 final appointments to test in week 7 or week 8 if necessary.

The respondents are:

1)Tineke eulderink from Kern Eindhoven. She was interested in testing with us.

2)Tanja dekker from ASVZ-Eureka- Caretechnology en innovation. She was interested in testing with us. She works in multiple locations in Brabant.

3) Vincent Rijpert from SDW Roosendaal. He was not interested in testing with us.

4) Malu Coppens from SDW Roosendaal. She was interesting in testing with us.

I will to get these people on the phone and plan two test weeks.

Tabellen

Stelling	Tineke
Ik zie de voordelen (zelfstandigheid, dagbesteding, zorgzaamheid) van een slimme pot voor de cliënten in mijn instelling.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de voordelen)
Ik denk dat mijn cliënten meer tijd zouden besteden met een slimme pot dan met een normaal plantje.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de besteedde tijd)	Ik ben wel een beetje bang ben voor het effect van gewenning.
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten de slimme plantenpot in de benoemde vorm zelfstandig(er) kunnen verzorgen dan een normaal plantje.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over zelfstandigheid)
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten meer plezier ervaren in het verzorgen van een plantje als deze een stem heeft een positieve feedback geeft.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over het gebruiksplezier)
Heeft u interesse om gedurende een week een eerste prototype te testen?	Ja

Stelling	Tanja
Ik zie de voordelen (zelfstandigheid, dagbesteding, zorgzaamheid) van een slimme pot voor de cliënten in mijn instelling.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de voordelen)
Ik denk dat mijn cliënten meer tijd zouden besteden met een slimme pot dan met een normaal plantje.	Neutraal
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de besteedde tijd)
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten de slimme plantenpot in de benoemde vorm zelfstandig(er) kunnen verzorgen dan een normaal plantje.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over zelfstandigheid)
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten meer plezier ervaren in het verzorgen van een plantje als deze een stem heeft een positieve feedback geeft.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over het gebruiksplezier)
Heeft u interesse om gedurende een week een eerste prototype te testen?	Ja

Stelling	Vincent
Ik zie de voordelen (zelfstandigheid, dagbesteding, zorgzaamheid) van een slimme pot voor de cliënten in mijn instelling.	Neutraal
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de voordelen)	Dit is afhankelijk van de doelgroep en de mate van beperking.
Ik denk dat mijn cliënten meer tijd zouden besteden met een slimme pot dan met een normaal plantje.	Oneens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de besteedde tijd)	Mijn cliënten zijn matig verstandelijk beperkt en hebben gedragscomponeten waarop deze vorm wellicht niet aansluit.
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten de slimme plantenpot in de benoemde vorm zelfstandig(er) kunnen verzorgen dan een normaal plantje.	Neutraal
Open ruimte voor uw mening over zelfstandigheid)
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten meer plezier ervaren in het verzorgen van een plantje als deze een stem heeft een positieve feedback geeft.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over het gebruiksplezier)	Kan leuk zijn maar dit effect is wellicht slechts tijdelijk.
Heeft u interesse om gedurende een week een eerste prototype te testen?	Nee

Stelling	Maju
Ik zie de voordelen (zelfstandigheid, dagbesteding, zorgzaamheid) van een slimme pot voor de cliënten in mijn instelling.	Sterk eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de voordelen)	Bij ons op de voorziening hebben wij een moestuin. Door deze pot kunnen cliënten doormiddel van deze pot zelfstandiger de plantjes onderhouden
Ik denk dat mijn cliënten meer tijd zouden besteden met een slimme pot dan met een normaal plantje.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over de besteedde tijd)	Doordat er opdrachten vanuit de pot gegeven worden kunnen cliënten inderdaad meer uit zichzelf zonder hulp van begeleiding. Hierdoor kan de pot interesse wekken bij cliënten waardoor ze zelf meer willen gaan doen aan de plantjes.
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten de slimme plantenpot in de benoemde vorm zelfstandig(er) kunnen verzorgen dan een normaal plantje.	Eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over zelfstandigheid)	Ja doordat ze horen wat er moet gebeuren vanuit de pot, hebben ze de hulp niet nodig van begeleiding.
Ik verwacht dat mijn cliënten meer plezier ervaren in het verzorgen van een plantje als deze een stem heeft een positieve feedback geeft.	Sterk eens
Open ruimte voor uw mening over het gebruiksplezier)	Cliënten bij ons op het dagcentrum vinden het een leuke activiteit om met planten (moestuin) te werken. Als ze door middel van deze pot zelfstandiger kunnen werken, vergroot je het gevoel van eigenwaarde en trots bij de cliënten.
Heeft u interesse om gedurende een week een eerste prototype te testen?	Ja

Conclusion

Getting in contact with mentally disabled people and their caretakers has proven to be very difficult over the phone. This is how it went.

For the bigger institutions: The only contact information that can be found online leads toward receptionists. These people then usual redirect you towards a manager of some sort because I am asking something unordinary. These managers then redirect you towards a person from an innovation branch or a specific workgroup. This track then ends with somebody not picking up the phone, not being present, or not being able to help us.

The smaller private caretakers do not pick up the phone at all or have no good contact information.

The best option is to go to one of these places in real life and just knock on the doors and not leave until you see some disabled people and caretakers. But this is irresponsible due to Covid-19.

Luckily persistence pays off. In the end, it got 4 replies. Of which 3 people were positive about our design ideas and were willing to test with us. This proves that our target audience likes our idea and that there is a potentially good product here. One of the 4 was less enthusiastic but his feedback is perhaps even more valuable. We learned that FLEUR will likely not work for all persons with Down syndrome since the degree of mental impairedness varies greatly within this target group. Now, all we can do is hope for a fruitful testing week and useful feedback.

Handleiding

Figure 1

Threshold water: Echt droge grond = 100

Licht vochtig maar nog te droog (half shotglas water) = 90-100

Vochtige genoeg, misschien zelfs iets te veel (één shotglas) = 70-80

Echte te nat (1.5 shot glas) = 60

Door de kleine hoeveelheid potgrond moet je heel secuur zijn met de hoeveelheid water

Plus met die probe en een plantje in de pot is er weinig plek over voor aarde. --> voor in de discussie ”volgende keer grote pot inhoud. ”

Nog een discussie puntje: door de ribbels in het 3d geprinte materiaal blijft het zand er een beetje inzitten. waardoor er een vieze bruine gloed op zit. dit was er je wel af. maar afwassen en elektronica gaan niet zo goed samen.

Conclusie: Bij 85 en hoger is de pot te droog. Bij 65 en lager is de pot te nat. de plant mag elke keer maar een heel klein beetje water anders wordt het meteen te nat en droogt hij wss niet meer uit in een week.

Threshold zon:

De zon sensors sensor is heel gevoelig. Deze wisselt tussen 10 en 70 terwijl mijn gevoel beide locatie goede hoeveelheid licht voor een plant zouden zijn.

In de volle zon, (zonder wolken) = 0

In een goed verlichte ruimte (maar niet in direct licht zon= 3-80

Een te donkere ruimte zoals gang 90-100

Als het ‘s avonds donkerder wordt gaat ie constant af. Ik zat gisternacht aan de pot te werken met mijn lamp aan. Toen was de waarde al iets van 89.

Het hangt ook enorm er van af of de sensor richting de of in een hoek wijst.

Conclusie: De zon sensors sensor is heel gevoelig. De waarde wisselt tussen 10 en 70 terwijl voor mijn gevoel beide locaties een goede hoeveelheid licht hadden voor een plant zouden. De treshold voor de veel zon is 5 en alles daar onder. Te weinig zonlicht bij 80 en alles daar boven

afspraken na bellen

Malu Coppens: Malu was super enthusiast. Ze was echt benieuwt om te zien hoe mensen met een beperking op die plantenpot zouden reageren. Ze zei dingen als “laat maar komen die pot”.

De locatie waar we kunnen testen is Gerard Ter Borchstraat 53

4703NL Roosendaal

Bij SDW de plantaan.

Ik heb nu afgesproken dat ik op maandag ochtend 14 juni (begin week 9) de plantenpot daar kom afgeven. Ze zijn open van 08:30 tot 16:00. Ik kan daar gewoon aanbellen en naar Malu vragen. Dan kunnen we daar samen de plantenpot neerzetten en even kijken of hij goed aangaat. Ik heb haar belooft dat ik een a4tje zal uitprinten met daarop een kleine gebruiksaanwijzing. Hierop staat hoe de pot aan en uit moet, en wat de lampjes en pictogrammen betekenen voor het geval iemand dat vergeet. Ook zet ik mijn telefoon nummer er op zodat ze me kunnen bellen als er iets is. Ergens op vrijdag 18 juni kom ik de pot weer ophalen. We kunnen dan gelijk even kletsen over hun ervaring met de pot.

[Ik stel wel voor dat we de pot artificieel hoog veel aandacht laten vragen. Het is zonden als hij maar 1 of 2 keer afgaat in die 5 dagen, als die verzorger er dan net niet is om het in de gaten te houden hebben we helemaal nul feedback en hadden we net zo goed thuis kunnen testen. Ik zeg fack de gezondheid van de plant en laat dat ding twee keer per dag afgaan. Dan heb je 10 interacties.]

We gaan de pot neerzetten bij het raam. Daar staat een verwarming met een plank er op waar het zou moeten passen. Er is geen controle plant vanuit ons nodig. Ze hebben daar een moestuin dus meer genoeg andere planten om mee te vergelijken.

Questionnaire after prototype use

The caretakers that we are in contact with prefer a questionnaire in Dutch so that is why this section is written in Dutch. It is important to keep the questionnaire short with only the most vital questions. The caretaker are voluntary helping us by spending their time on using our product and answer our questions. Be do not want to burden them or scare them off. Secondly, we think that it would be better to have few complete and carefully answered vital questions instead of 30 questions that are answered minimally.

Beste …, Nogmaals bedankt voor uw medewerking. Afgelopen week hebben u en uw cliënten onze slimme pot getest. Hieronder bevindt zich een korte vragenlijst met 8 stellingen over jullie ervaring met de slimme pot. Het invullen zal ongeveer XX minuten duren. Wij zullen deze resultaten alleen gebruiken om te beoordelen of ons prototype heeft voldaan aan vooraf vastgestelde doelen, en wat er bij een volgende uitvoering eventueel verbetert kan worden. Enkel wij als project groepje en onze supervisors zullen de antwoorden lezen en we zijn niet geïnteresseerd in privé gegevens zoals namen. Bij elke stelling dient u één antwoord wat van toepassing is te omcirkelen. Daarnaast is er open ruimte om uw menig te geven of uw antwoordt toe te lichten. Alle feedback is welkom, ook kritische uiteraard. We hebben liever te veel dan te weinig informatie dus wees niet terughoudend.

Stelling 1)

De installatie van de slimme pot was een prettige procedure.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens Open ruimte voor feedback over de installatie procedure)

Stelling 2)

Mijn cliënten hebben meer tijd besteed met de slimme pot dan met de controle tulp.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over de besteedde tijd)

Stelling 3)

De slimme pot voegt wat toe aan de dagbesteding van mijn cliënten t.o.v. de controle pot.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over de dagbesteding)

Stelling 4)

Mijn cliënten kunnen de slimme pot zelfstandiger verzorgen dan de controle pot.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over zelfstandigheid)

Stelling 5)

Omdat de slimme pot zelf de cliënten aanstuurt, heb ik meer tijd over voor andere zaken.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over de tijdsbesparing)

Stelling 6)

Mijn cliënten vonden het gebruik van de slimme pot leuker dan van de controle tulp.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over het gebruiksplezier)

Stelling 7)

Het gebruik van de slimme pot wekt zorgzaam gedrag op in mijn cliënten t.o.v. de controle pot.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over zorgzaamheid)

Stelling 8)

Mijn algemene ervaring met de slimme pot is positief.

Sterk oneens // Oneens // Neutraal // Eens // Sterk eens

Open ruimte voor feedback over de algemene ervaring)

Deze questionairre zal waarschijnlijk telefonisch afworden genomen of in echt bij het ophalen van de pot. Dan krijgen we gelijk wat uitgebreidere antwoorden en kunnen de verzorgers zelf goed uitdrukken wat ze er van vonden en wat ze aangepast zouden willen zien.

Contacts information of our target group in the Brabant or Limburg

Email list:

suzannevanherk@hetnet.nl of tineke.eulderink@onsbrabantnet.nl

info@lunetzorg.nl

info@kentalis.nl

info@asvz.nl

clientenservice@cello-zorg.nl

clientservicedesk@daelzicht.nl

info@downvision.nl

mgetempelaars@gmail.com

kiemkracht@gmail.com

jmaas@oro.nl

info@psw.nl

clientloket@radar.org

m.v.bavel@sdwzorg.nl

match4care@zuidwester.org

KERN

stichting Downsyndroom Eindhoven

Email: suzannevanherk@hetnet.nl of tineke.eulderink@onsbrabantnet.nl

Tel: helaas niet te vinden.

lunet zorg woonpark Eckartdal

tel: 088 511 5000 of 088 551 6000

Email: info@lunetzorg.nl of clientbureau@lunetzorg.nl

Ketalis Eindhoven Aalsterweg [Deze focussen op taalstoornis en doofheid, niet exact wat wij zoeken]

aalsterweg 285H (& castiliëlaan)

5644RE Eindhoven (5629CH)

tel: 0800-53682547

Email: info@kentalis.nl

ASVZ

Zuid-Holland en Noord-Brabant

www.asvz.nl

0184-491200

info@asvz.nl

Cello

Noordoost Noord-Brabant (Den Bosch-Eindhoven-Tilburg) en Zuidwest Gelderland (Bommelerwaard)

www.cello-zorg.nl

088-345 11 11 = clientenservice

clientenservice@cello-zorg.nl

088 345 1000 = receptie

Daelzicht

Limburg

www.daelzicht.nl

0475 577 333

clientservicedesk@daelzicht.nl

Dagcentrum De Poppenkraam

Veldhoven e.o.

www.de-poppenkraam.nl/main.htm

mw. A. van der Velden, mw. N. Fredriksz

040-2052839 of 040-2052824

Email: -

Downvision

Drunen, Waalwijk, Den Bosch

www.downvision.nl

Miriam van Oorschot

06 40 33 78 63

info@downvision.nl

Huppetee

Zeeland en West-Brabant

Marinda Tempelaars

mgetempelaars@gmail.com

www.huppetee.nu

www.facebook.com/huppetee tel: 076 531 5315

Kiem, persoonlijke groei

Tilburg e.o

Ontwikkelingsstimulering en individuele begeleiding. Advisering en ondersteuning van ouders en directe betrokken bij het kind met de methode early

intervention/kleine stapjes, zowel inzetbaar in de thuissituatie als op de peuterspeelzaal of (reguliere)school.

Contact: Famke Beeloo

Telefoon: 06.17356857

Mail: kiemkracht@gmail.com

ORO

Helmond, Geldrop, Mierlo, Laarbeek/Deurne, Asten, Someren, Bakel

www.oro.nl

Jolanda Maas (inhoudelijke informatie)

0492 – 53 0053

jmaas@oro.nl

Langdurige begeleiding van de ouders bij early intervention, tevens speelleergroep en schoolvoorbereidende groep.

PSW Junior

Midden-Limburg

www.pswjunior.nl

Marjolein Dohmen – van den Assem

0475-474 400

info@psw.nl

Radar

Zuid-Limburg

www.radar.org

088-350 5000

clientloket@radar.org

SDW

West-Brabant, Roosendaal

www.sdw.nl

M van Bavel

m.v.bavel@sdwzorg.nl

088-2593165

088 - 259 3010 voor algemene vragen

Stichting Zuidwester (praktische pedagogische gezinsbegeleiding)

West-Brabant, Zeeland en de Zuid-Hollandse Eilanden (Barendrecht, Goeree-Overflakkee, Hoeksche Waard, Rotterdam, Voorne-Putten)

www.zuidwester.org

0187-898888

match4care@zuidwester.org

BoM

Component	Costs	Amount	Total costs	Link to webshop
Earth Unit	€ 4,-	2	€ 8,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/platforms/m5stack/unit/m5stack-earth-unit
Hub Unit	€ 3,50	2	€ 7,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/platforms/m5stack/unit/m5stack-1-3-hub-unit
Light Unit	€ 4,-	2	€ 8,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/platforms/m5stack/unit/m5stack-light-unit
M5STACK M5Core Gray - ESP32 Development Kit	€ 30,-	2	€ 60,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/platforms/m5stack/m5core/m5stack-m5core-gray-esp32-development-kit
DuPont Jumper wires Male-Female	€ 0,75	4	€ 3,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/kabels/prototype-draden/dupont-jumper-draad-male-female-20cm-10-draden
M5Stack NeoPixel LED strip	€ 10,49	2	€ 20,98	https://www.conrad.nl/p/makerfactory-m5stack-neopixel-strip-mf-6324774-led-lamp-met-connectoren-malefemale-35-v-23-cm-na-tape-cut-2108258
M5Stack Bus Module	€ 6,-	2	€ 12,-	https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/platforms/m5stack/m5core/module/m5stack-bus-module-voor-m5core
Material 3D printed pot and box	€ 19,95	2	TBD	https://www.filamenten3d.nl/product/pla-filament-hotorange3d/

User Needs and Preferences

People with Down syndrome have different needs and preferences compared to people without intellectual disabilities. A good product should address all of the users needs and as many possible preferences. So in order to develop a good product one should have a clear idea of what these needs and preferences are. To gather this information we have called several care-institutions asking them if they would be interested in helping us answer some questions and/or help test the first prototype. Secondly, we decided to also do a literary study into this subject to obtain even more information from other sources.

From the literature we have found that language development is moderately to severely compromised in some children with DS and that therefore most individuals with DS also have less developed language skills at all ages in life compared to people without an intellectual disability (Lemons, 2010) and (Chapman, 2000) To accommodate for this lack in linguistic skills there are a few things that one can do to improve communication with people with DS. Use repitition Show that you are pleased Be patient https://belovedshepherd.com/tips-communicating-with-a-person-with-downs-syndrome Helaas is dit geen echte source maar een website maar hier staat het wel heel duidelijk in.

Of course there are more items, but these were the ones that we identified to be the most important and the ones that we could play into.

From the care-institutions we concluded…………..

Lemons CJ, Fuchs D. Phonological awareness of children with Down syndrome: its role in learning to read and the effectiveness of related interventions. Res Dev Disabil. 2010 Mar-Apr;31(2):316-30. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2009.11.002. Epub 2009 Nov 30. PMID: 19945821.

Chapman, Robin & Seung, Hye-Kyeung & Schwartz, Scott & Bird, Elizabeth. (2000). Predicting Language Production in Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR. 43. 340-50. 10.1044/jslhr.4302.340.

Questionaire answers from a caretaker

In order to get a deeper understanding how people with Down's syndrome would or could react to our project contact was sought with a caretaker. This caretaker has around 10 years of experience with these particular patients, this means that the answers to the questions are usefull to the project at hand. In the following text first the questions will be posed after which the answers are written. Lastly some extra pointers given by the caretaker will be mentioned.

Q) What would people with Down's syndrome need in daily life that this plant can help with?(To combat boredom for example)

A) Becoming more independant, that is a hot item at the moment. Caretakers want theur patients to be able to live as long as possible on their own.

Q) Do you think that our project can improve their daily life?

A) Not only do plants make sure that there is cleaner/better quality of air in the patients room, but they also get thought to take care of the plant in a creative and playfull manner.

Q) Do you think that our project would need to het more funtions?

A) Only sound might not be enough, it can become quite noise in care homes. But these patients also react very well to a combination of visual and auditive stimulation. The visual stimulation does not need to be complicated, colors would suffice, so for example a yellow light means more sunlight or a blue light means more water. This way they also get a more satisfactory feeling in the long run. These patients also forget general tasks quite a bit, this would be giving water in regular intervals for example, a solution would be the use of so called 'pictokaarten' and a weekly schedule. These pictokaarten are designed to not give any confusion on the action that has to be taken and the weekly schedule gives them a place where they can easily find the tasks that have to be done on a certain day. Direct tasks, for example more sunlight, would be perfect in an visual/auditive stimulation.

Q) What would be the best way for our project to approach people with Down's syndrome?

A) The best way to approach them is in a positive and cheerfull way yet the message has to be simple and clear, and thank/compliment them if they performed the task well. For our project the following 3 suggestions were given: 1. 'I am thirsty, could you give me some water?', 'Thank you, now I am not thirsty anymore.' 2. 'I am quite hot, would you mind placing me in the shade?', 'Now I am nice and cool, thank you.' 3. 'I am quite cold, would you mind placing me in the sun?', 'Thank you, now I am not cold anymore.' What might help the patients in the long run is some sort of checklist, these already get used now to see if they keep getting a better understanding of the tasks they are performing. This checklist could ask what color lamp has what meaning for example, this can then be excecuted with their caretaker.

Some general remarks.

• People with Down's syndrome have different levels of mental capabilities depending on their IQ. The caretaker mentioned that our project would work best with patients that have the same mental capabilities as 6-10 year olds. Some level of understanding is needed since we are trying to learn them to care.
• They love cables that they can see. These have to be tucked away, it might not harm them but they will pull on them.
• the site botsbegleiding.nl(teachh) can be used as a usefull source, it officially is a site for autism but the thought processes are quite the same as those we can use.

RPC list

Requirements

• The pot needs to be able to sense the moisture content of the ground
• The pot needs to sense the amount of sunlight it receives
• The pot has to be able to identify the plants' needs based on sensor input
• The pot has to be able to notify the user what the plant requires
• The pot needs to be able to hold a plant
• The pot can not harm the user via electronics or any other way
• The pot has to be waterproof for when spill accidents happen

Preferences

• The pot should have a speaker to address the users in a positive and friendly way
• The pot should make minimal small talk like asking how the other person is
• The pot should tell the users what it requires "I am thirsty, could you give me half a glass of water?"
• The pot should thank/compliment the users after a task is completed.
• The pot should display a smiley face then the plant is happy
• The pot should display a watering can when it is thirsty
• The pot should display a sun when it needs more sun
• The pot should display a fire when it needs more shade
• The pot should have flash blue lights when it is thirsty
• The pot should flash yellow lights when it needs sunlight
• The pot should flash red lights when it needs shade
• The pot should alarm the user when the batteries are nearly empty
• The pot should be easy to set up and install

Constraints

• The electronics and the housing cannot be too big so that the pot becomes unpractically big
• The assembly of the pot cannot take more than a week to fit our 7-week planning
• The components cannot be too expensive since we are on a uni-bound budget

Designing and making the prototype.

When the idea of making a plant to enhance the joy of life of mentally disabled people some challanges had to be overcome in the design phase of the prototype. As can be read in the section about the conversation that was held with a caretaker, all the wires have to be hidden away. Apparently, these wires are an incentive for the patients to pull on them, this may lead to dangerous situations. Besides this there was a constraint for the size of the product during manufacturing.

Making the prototype

When it came to deciding on how we would make the prototype a decision was made quite quickly. The method of 3D printing was chosen, this was a feasible solution since one groupmember owns a 3D printer and thus it was very forgiving in lead/shipping times.

For the whole process a 3D design of the pot had to be made, this process can be read below, and also research had to be done on the plastics that were going to be used for the FDM printer. After the print was completed some post processing had to be done.

Research on plastics

When doing research on the plastics there were only 3 possible solutions for the printer set-up at hand. Some plastics had to be discarded since they would be too abresive, some were discarded due to their properties after printing, some were discarded if the manufacturing process could not be met, there is a limit to the temperature the hot end can reach, and some were discarded due to the fact of limited to no stock being available.

What plastics remained? The 3 most common 3D printer plastics on the market: PLA, PET-G and ABS. They all have their own strengths and weaknesess and these will be elaborated on further.

• PLA

PLA is the most commonly used 3D printer fillament due to its versitility. PLA is cheap at around 20,- per kg of plastic, it is easy to print since it does not tend to warp and/or cause stringing during printing and it is relatively strong, it is available in many colors and it it is very easy to work with during post processing. It also does not require high temperatures during printing(190-220C hotend, 40-60C printbed). And one other benefit is that PLA is biodegradeable.

On the other hand, PLA is not the strongest material on the market, but this is not that much of a concern for our project. What is of concern are the properties PLA has when it is in contact with sunlight and water. Since PLA is a bioplastic it is not hydrophobe for longer periods of time nor can it be in direct sunlight for longer periods of time. This seems catastrophic but while doing the researh it was found that 'for longer periods of time' means more than 2-3 months. For this project the use will be around 2-4 weeks at most. Lastly it is needed to mention that PLA deforms at not the highest temperature, ~50-60C, it will not melt but the when applying pressure indentations and/or layer seperation could occur.

• PET-G

PET-G is the little brother of the engineering plastic PET, PET is used for example in water bottles. PET-G is still relatively cheap at around 30,- per kg of plastics, it is a ductile material, it is a hydrophobe material by itself, this does not mean that the print will be waterproof!, is has a good resistance to sunlight, it does not require high temperatures during printing(210-235C hotend, 50-60C printbed) and it starts deforming at a temperature of ~70-75C.

Some disadvantages are that PET-G is prone to cause stringing during printing and it is more inclined to warp than PLA, but this is a minor issue with PET-G. The biggest problems with this plastic were two fold. The first major problem was availability, the source that was used to aqcuire the plastic only had 1 roll in stock and we needed 2. The second problem had to do with the printbed that was being used. The printbed is made of glass with a special coating, while printing there is a significant chance that the PET-G could fuse with the glass of the printbed. A solution would be a PEI sheet for the printbed but this could not be acquired in time.

• ABS

In general is ABS the most ductile material of the 3. ABS is also very heat resistant, it starts deforming at a temperature of 100C. But there are some major disadvantages. First of all, ABS is not the most resistant to UV-light, in this aspect it has about the same properties as PLA. But the biggest drawback to ABS is its tendency to warping and expanding/contracting after the print is complete. This means that the print not only very inaccurate, the tollerances are not met due to the expanding/contracting of the material, but it is also hard to make it look good. Warping makes the print deform plasticly during or after printing. This would in turn mean that the print is not able to be made in 2 halves that have to mate.

So what material was chosen to use for the 3D printing? The answer is PLA. It was readily available, it does not have the best properties but also not the worst. The only thing that might be a small concern is that it can deform at around 60C, this would be a problem when the pot is placed above a radiator of the central heating system when it is cranking out a lot of heat.

Post processing

• Removing the support material

When making a print like this it is important for the person managing the 3D printer to keep the orientation of the parts in mind in the slicer software. This can in turn greatly reduce or increase the amount of support material that has to be printed. Support material is sacrificial plastic that is used to make sure that the print can be made by the printer, this then can be easily broken of in the post processing phase. In general this support material can be avoided by making some smart design choices as well. A 60 degree overhang for example is the most aggresive form that most printers can handel without printing any support material. For us this meant that the compartments would be oriented as follows: the top compartment was turned 180 degrees and the bottom compartment was printed as usual. These configurations can also be seen in FIGURE xx. Printing them in this orientation minimized the amound of support material that would be needed, this minimized the printing time and cost and the post processing time.

• Finishing

Now that the support material has been removed, the tedious work of finishing/sanding begins. In general, a 3D printed part is quite smooth and has a nice look to it, but there can be some oozing on the side or the seam is visible to the outside. These are both the effect of the way a FDM printer works. Since the printer works in layers, the starting,end point of a layer gets overextruded plastic, or a seam, this can be filed down and sanded to match the rest of the print. Oozing is essentially the same as a seam, the only difference is the placement of the 'blob'. For oozing this placement is random and a seam follows a vertical line.

• Waterproofing.

The last part would be the waterproofing. Unlike some test prints, the pots were not completely waterproof. This was fixed by using a 2 part epoxy, this would ensure a watertight layer was put where the leaks occured.

Designing the prototype.

First design

When coming up with a design the first thought was to make a flower pot comprising of 2 compartments, 1 compartment for the electronics and 1 for the plant, see Figure 1. The idea was that the bottom compartment would be filled with all the electronics and the top compartment would function as a flower pot. The moisture sensor would stick up into the flower put and the light sensor would be sticking out of one of the compartments in order to sense light. In the end it was thought to be too difficult to make the flower pot water tight with a sensor sticking in from the bottom. This could be avoided with a designated rubber seal, but then still it would not be an ideal solution. Another hinderance with this design was its size, it would only have a couple of mm of clearance during manufacturing.

Figure 1: First design implementation.

Second design

Learning from the design faults in the first iteration of the design sketch, a new concept was thought of. The main concept would remain the same, there would be 2 compartments. 1 compartment for the electronics and 1 compartment for the plant. The main difference between the first and second iteration of the design lies in the way how these compartments interact. In stead of making a sort of lid on a jar concept, the compartments would be 'merging' together. As can be seen in Figure 2.

The top compartment.

The top compartment of the design has multiple functions, it has to hold the plant, it holds the sensors/ the LED strip and it makes sure that the least amount of water can get to the bottom compartment.

In order to hold a plant and to make the design waterproof was quite challanging since the chosen manufacturing process was a 3D printer. When looking online how it could be done with the settings in the slicer software an article was found by a company called Prusa Research, a leader in consumer 3D printers. This article stated that it would be possible with certain parameters but even then all the stars would have to allign. When these parameters were changed, the end result was that the print was not waterproof. Thus, in the end it had to be done during post processing. As far as holding the plant itself was quite simple, a plastic flowerpot from a retailer was used as an insert into the compartment, this way there would be an extra layer of protection between the electronics and the water. This also has the added benefit that changing a plant is a simple process, the inserted pot has regular dimensions, meaning that plants in similar pots can be found at retailers.

For the sensors cut-outs have been made. For the light sensor a dut-out in the top was made so it can sense the amount of light. The placement is opposite to the screen, this was done for ease, the sensor would be able to sense sunlight through a window and then the screen would still be pointing towards the room. For the moisture sensor a cut-out had to be made through the pot holder. This gives the risk of compromising the waterproofing but this compromise had to be taken. As mentioned during design 1, all the cables had to be out of sight whilst trying to avoid making any holes in the bottom of the pot holder. Thus it was chosen to make the hole in the side of the pot holder, and the hole is placed under a 30 degree angle. The thought process being that the water on the sensor itself would follow the path of least resistance and pointing the sensor down would lead the water down giving the least amount of problems. The holes for the sensors are meant to be press fits, meaning that no adheasives or fasteners will be used. This is why they are designed to be as big as the dimensions of the sensors, with the tolerance clearance for the printer being ignored, this gives a hole that is slightly smaller than the sensor(+- 0.2mm) giving the chance to make the fit perfect with some files. If the fit turns out to be too loose, a piece of tape will be used as a gasket. Ideally a piece of rubber would be used but that is not feasable unfortionatly.

Besides the sensors, also a designated spot has been chosen for the LED strip, this is a simple track in which this strip can be placed.

Article Prusa research: https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/watertight-prints_112324

Figure 2: Second design.

The bottom compartment

The bottom compartment needed to hold the M5Stack Core2 along with the powerbank and all the cables. And it had to give strength to the whole design.

When it came to holding the Core2 several cut-outs were made in a wall of the bottom compartment. Some cut-outs held the Core2 in place whilst other were there to accomodate for the cables that needed to be connected to the Core2. in order to hold the screen in place, there is also a design feature at the back. This is a slot that fits around the BUS unit that is directrly connected to the Core2, this will neatralise movements in the horizontal-plane. Limitations in the vertical-direction are achived by a combinatiion of these cut-outs and this design feature.

There is enough room to accomodate 1 of the 2 powerbanks that were used during the design process, there is no particular orientation that these need to have.

Put together

When both compartments are put together, there are 2 prongs in the top compartment and there are 2 holes in the bottom compartment. These holes and prongs limit the movement in the horizontal-plane, movement in the vertical direction will still be possible however, this was done to make it easy to charge the powerbanks if needed and to do reparirs.

Promo Video

This video needs to be very short <100 seconds. Otherwise, people lose their attention. The goal is to clearly show what our product is, what it does, and how it looks.

As an example, you could look to nearly every IndieGoGo/Kickstarter video. I have found a video of the LUA pot. This is extremely similar to what we have and could be a great inspiration. https://mu-design.lu/lua#super-simple-app The hook Your Kickstarter videos have to get their attention. If you don’t do this, nothing else matters. This could be through the video title or those first few impactful seconds that draw the person in to learn more.

Tell a memorable story

Your video should tell a story. If you are trying to get funding for something that solves a problem. The problem should be demonstrated through a visual narrative. Stories hold attention. They show rather than tell. People want to find out what will happen next. Work the narrative to hold attention to the very end. And after the viewer walks away, they should be left with an imprint, an inability to forget what they just saw, and hopefully and urge to share.

Get people excited

Yes, you are very excited about the movie for which you need funding, but is this excitement translating to someone who knows nothing about you. What is unique and special about your idea? Why should the contributor want to be a part of your mission? And don’t underestimate the power of music to inspire excitement.

Make sure visuals match the script

If you reference a mouldy cheeseburger in the script for some strange reason, we need to see one. The visuals need to synch to what the actors are saying to reinforce your message.

Don’t over-explain it

You don’t want to be too vague. People should know what they are funding and need to know that you have a plan. But a lengthy video that explains every detail of the process will not serve you well. The most successful videos are concise 2-3 minutes.

The smart pot video script: LET OP DAT DE VIDEO IN HET NEDERLANDS MOET VOOR ONZR DOELGROEP

In the first shot, we immediately introduce the smart pot to gain attention and show what it looks like. “Introducing the smart pot, a system design to make taking care of plants easier and more enjoyable”

Stock footage of a down person caring for a plant. “Everybody should be able to care for plants. Either as a hobby or a way to create a nice atmosphere and clean air. Some people just need a little help” Footage of our pot. “the smart pot helps by monitoring its own state and giving clear commands via multiple channels to make taking care of plants easier for people who struggle ……………’’

Closeup footage of the sensors if that is possible/visible. “the smart pot uses sensors to monitor the plant's environment and determine the health and requirements of the plant”

Footage of the lights and display “the smart pot contact its users via voice, lights and display. And uses these simultaneously to make it as clear as possible what has to happen”

Footage of happy Downies “After a completed task the users is met with positive feedback”

Discussion

During such a project there are always things that could have gone better. Some of these things were anticipated and others were not. This section is dedicated to the things that went suboptimal, and how we would improve a second prototype.

The first big problem that we encountered had to do with our target audience, namely people with down syndrome. In order to obtain user “preferences and needs” we needed information from these people. Although Down syndrome is not a rare disability (1 in 800 births in the united states SOURCE), we personally do not have contact with anyone suffering from this condition. This is because these people generally have fewer social contacts. So we tried getting in contact with care institutions. This was quite hard since these caretakers told us that they have busy jobs and people generally dislike spending time helping complete strangers when they are busy. Another factor that did not help is that the caretakers are very protective of their clients. Since the clients themselves are not able to properly fend for themselves. When I called these institutions I was usually redirected a few times until somebody did not answer the phone or said the could help us. Lastly, the coronavirus made it impossible for us to visit these places in real life. This would be a easier way to actual meet the disabled people and their caretakers. So in another project, we could think of better ways to get into contact with our target group (or decide upon an easier one during the first stages of development).

Another problem we encountered had to do with our goals and experiment. As a goal, we aimed to add a new joyful activity to the day of people with Down syndrome. The main problem here is the measurability of these results. Due to the coronavirus, we could not be present in persons to judge the effectiveness. And due to the privacy of the users, we also could not install camera’s for example to keep track of how the prototype performs. The result of this is that we had to ask the caretakers to pay attention and all the feedback had to come from questioning those caretakers. This is less than desirable because we want to ask as little as possible from these people since they are already being extremely friendly and helpful by testing our product. Secondly, it increases subjectivity in the results since both prototypes are judged by different observers. This could be solved by perhaps waiting until covid passes or by finding a different target audience that allows us to monitor the experiment ourselves.

An additional problem of the experiment was the test period length. Due to the structure of this course, we could only permit 1 week of testing. This is really short when you want to monitor potential changes in behaviour and the health of plants. Expected changes are minimal in one week, and therefore the results might be inconclusive. We have no good fix for this.

The next thing that we would improve in a new version would be the design of the pot and how the sensors are placed inside. In the current design, the moisture sensor fits into a hole that is halfway down the pot. This was the only way everything would fit in the pot. Making the pot bigger was not an option since we were restricted by the size of the 3d printer and the print time. This low hole caused excess drained water to drip through the hole in the direction of the electronic core. This is obviously a problem. In the prototype, this was fixed by using some tape. But a more ideal permanent solution would be to redesign the pot with a bigger 3d printer. Or by using moisture sensors that are smaller since our model was quick large (8ish cm in length.)

FLEUR now uses a powerbank as the source of power. We didn’t like to option of having a power cable since that would look less nice and would increase the risk of electrocution because we use electronics inside a flowerpot that is filled with water every week (and see the problem of the hole described above). The downside of using a battery is that you have to swap or charges them once in a while. So to minimize that labour and make our system more durable we should use power-efficient component. In the current design the display of the mstack 5 core uses most of the power (XX Watts), our sensors take a measurement once every XX minutes Template:And after the button is pressed, to ensure fast feedback. This power consumption is negligible in comparison. So to improve our design and make it run on smaller and fewer batteries we could swap the standard transmissive display for a so-called reflective display, these are the ones that are used in e-readers. These displays only use energy when the projected image on the screen has to be changed. Which is only a handful of times a day in our case. This would increase our average power consumption from XX watts to XX watts, allowing for smaller batteries.