Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
1 Waste Bin Monitoring System
Most Commercially Promising Project
 Allen Steinberg
Benjamin Gao
Matt Rylander
 Nikhil Arora design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
video
# Team Members:
- Matthew Rylander (mjr7)
- Allen Steinberg (allends2)
- Benjamin Gao (bgao8)

# Problem

Restaurants produce large volumes of waste every day which can lead to many problems like overflowing waste bins, smelly trash cans, and customers questioning the cleanliness of a restaurant if it is not dealt with properly. Managers of restaurants value cleanliness as one of their top priorities. Not only is the cleanliness of restaurants required by law, but it is also intrinsically linked to their reputation. Customers can easily judge the worth of a restaurant by how clean they keep their surroundings. A repulsive odor from a trash can, pests such as flies, roaches, or rodents building up from a forgotten trash can, or even just the sight of a can overflowing with refuse can easily reduce the customer base of an establishment.
With this issue in mind, there are many restaurant owners and managers that will likely purchase a device that will help them monitor the cleanliness of aspects of their restaurants. With the hassle of getting an employee to leave their station, walk to a trash can out of sight or far away, possibly even through external weather conditions, and then return to their station after washing their hands, having a way to easily monitor the status of trash cans from the kitchen or another location would be convenient and save time for restaurant staff.
Fullness of each trash can isn’t the only motivating factor to change out the trash. Maybe the trash can is mostly empty, but is extremely smelly. People are usually unable to tell if a trash can is smelly just from sight alone, and would need to get close to it, open it up, and expose themselves to possible smells in order to determine if the trash needs to be changed.

# Solution

Our project will have two components: 1. distributed sensor tags on the trash can, and 2. A central hub for collecting data and displaying the state of each trash can.

The sensor tags will be mounted to the top of a waste bin to monitor fullness of the can with an ultrasonic sensor, the odor/toxins in the trash with an air quality/gas sensor, and also the temperature of the trash can as high temperatures can lead to more potent smells. The tags will specifically be mounted on the underside of the trash can lids so the ultrasonic sensor has a direct line of sight to the trash inside and the gas sensor is directly exposed to the fumes generated by the trash, which are expected to migrate upward past the sensor and out the lid of the can.
The central hub will have an LCD display that will show all of the metrics described in the sensor tags and alert workers if one of the waste bins needs attention with a flashing LED. The hub will also need to be connected to the restaurant’s WiFi.

This system will give workers one less thing to worry about in their busy shifts and give managers peace of mind knowing that workers will be warned before a waste bin overflows. It will also improve the customer experience as they will be much less likely to encounter overflowing or smelly trash cans.

# Solution Components

## Sensor Tag Subsystem x2
Each trash can will be fitted with a sensor tag containing an ultrasonic sensor transceiver pair, a hazardous gas sensor, a temperature sensor, an ESP32 module, and additional circuitry necessary for the functionality of these components. The sensors will be powered with 3.3V or 5V DC from a wall adapter. A small hole will need to be drilled into the side of each trash can to accommodate the wall adapter output cord. They may also need to be connected to the restaurant’s WiFi.
- 2x ESP32-S3-WROOM
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2/16162644
- 2x Air Quality Sensor (ZMOD4410)
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/renesas-electronics-corporation/ZMOD4410AI1R/8823799
- 2x Temperature/Humidity Sensor(DHT22)
https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Digital-Temperature-Humidity-Replace/dp/B01DA3C452?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A30QSGOJR8LMXA#customerReviews
- 2x Ultrasonic Transmitter/Receiver
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-devices/CUSA-R75-18-2400-TH/13687422
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-devices/CUSA-T75-18-2400-TH/13687404
## Central Hub Subsystem
The entire system will be monitored from a central hub containing an LCD screen, an LED indicator light, and additional I/O modules as necessary. It will be based around an ESP32 module connected to the restaurant’s WiFi or ESPNOW P2P protocol that communicates with the sensor tags. The central hub will receive pings from the sensor tags at regular intervals, and if the central hub determines that one or more of the values (height of trash, air quality index, or temperature) are too high, it will notify the user. This information will be displayed on the hub’s LCD screen and the LED indicator light on the hub will flash to alert the restaurant staff of the situation.
- 1x ESP32-S3-WROOM
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2/16162644
- 1x LCD Screen
https://www.amazon.com/Hosyond-Display-Compatible-Mega2560-Development/dp/B0BWJHK4M6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=3.5%2Binch%2Blcd&qid=1705694403&sr=8-4&th=1


# Criteria For Success
This project will be successful if the following goals are met:
- The sensor tags can detect when a trash can is almost full (i.e. when trash is within a few inches of the lid) and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.
- The sensor tags can detect when an excess of noxious fumes are being produced in a trash can and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.
- The sensor tags can detect when the temperature in a trash can has exceeded a user-defined threshold and activate the proper protocol in the central hub.
- The central hub can receive wireless messages from all sensor tags reliably and correctly identify which trash cans are sending the messages.

Healthy Chair

Ryan Chen, Alan Tokarsky, Tod Wang

Healthy Chair

Featured Project

Team Members:

- Wang Qiuyu (qiuyuw2)

- Ryan Chen (ryanc6)

- Alan Torkarsky(alanmt2)

## Problem

The majority of the population sits for most of the day, whether it’s students doing homework or

employees working at a desk. In particular, during the Covid era where many people are either

working at home or quarantining for long periods of time, they tend to work out less and sit

longer, making it more likely for people to result in obesity, hemorrhoids, and even heart

diseases. In addition, sitting too long is detrimental to one’s bottom and urinary tract, and can

result in urinary urgency, and poor sitting posture can lead to reduced blood circulation, joint

and muscle pain, and other health-related issues.

## Solution

Our team is proposing a project to develop a healthy chair that aims at addressing the problems

mentioned above by reminding people if they have been sitting for too long, using a fan to cool

off the chair, and making people aware of their unhealthy leaning posture.

1. It uses thin film pressure sensors under the chair’s seat to detect the presence of a user,

and pressure sensors on the chair’s back to detect the leaning posture of the user.

2. It uses a temperature sensor under the chair’s seat, and if the seat’s temperature goes

beyond a set temperature threshold, a fan below will be turned on by the microcontroller.

3. It utilizes an LCD display with programmable user interface. The user is able to input the

duration of time the chair will alert the user.

4. It uses a voice module to remind the user if he or she has been sitting for too long. The

sitting time is inputted by the user and tracked by the microcontroller.

5. Utilize only a voice chip instead of the existing speech module to construct our own

voice module.

6. The "smart" chair is able to analyze the situation that the chair surface temperature

exceeds a certain temperature within 24 hours and warns the user about it.

## Solution Components

## Signal Acquisition Subsystem

The signal acquisition subsystem is composed of multiple pressure sensors and a temperature

sensor. This subsystem provides all the input signals (pressure exerted on the bottom and the

back of the chair, as well as the chair’s temperature) that go into the microcontroller. We will be

using RP-C18.3-ST thin film pressure sensors and MLX90614-DCC non-contact IR temperature

sensor.

## Microcontroller Subsystem

In order to achieve seamless data transfer and have enough IO for all the sensors we will use

two ATMEGA88A-PU microcontrollers. One microcontroller is used to take the inputs and

serves as the master, and the second one controls the outputs and acts as the slave. We will

use I2C communication to let the two microcontrollers talk to each other. The microcontrollers

will also be programmed with the ch340g usb to ttl converter. They will be programmed outside

the board and placed into it to avoid over cluttering the PCB with extra circuits.

The microcontroller will be in charge of processing the data that it receives from all input

sensors: pressure and temperature. Once it determines that there is a person sitting on it we

can use the internal clock to begin tracking how long they have been sitting. The clock will also

be used to determine if the person has stood up for a break. The microcontroller will also use

the readings from the temperature sensor to determine if the chair has been overheating to turn

on the fans if necessary. A speaker will tell the user to get up and stretch for a while when they

have been sitting for too long. We will use the speech module to create speech through the

speaker to inform the user of their lengthy sitting duration.

The microcontroller will also be able to relay data about the posture to the led screen for the

user. When it’s detected that the user is leaning against the chair improperly for too long from

the thin film pressure sensors on the chair back, we will flash the corresponding LEDs to notify

the user of their unhealthy sitting posture.

## Implementation Subsystem

The implementation subsystem can be further broken down into three modules: the fan module,

the speech module, and the LCD module. This subsystem includes all the outputs controlled by

the microcontroller. We will be using a MF40100V2-1000U-A99 fan for the fan module,

ISD4002-240PY voice record chip for the speech module, and Adafruit 1.54" 240x240 Wide

Angle TFT LCD Display with MicroSD - ST7789 LCD display for the OLED.

## Power Subsystem

The power subsystem converts 120V AC voltage to a lower DC voltage. Since most of the input

and output sensors, as well as the ATMEGA88A-PU microcontroller operate under a DC voltage

of around or less than 5V, we will be implementing the power subsystem that can switch

between a battery and normal power from the wall.

## Criteria for Success

-The thin film pressure sensors on the bottom of the chair are able to detect the pressure of a

human sitting on the chair

-The temperature sensor is able to detect an increase in temperature and turns the fan as

temperature goes beyond our set threshold temperature. After the temperature decreases

below the threshold, the fan is able to be turned off by the microcontroller

-The thin film pressure sensors on the back of the chair are able to detect unhealthy sitting

posture

-The outputs of the implementation subsystem including the speech, fan, and LCD modules are

able to function as described above and inform the user correctly

## Envision of Final Demo

Our final demo of the healthy chair project is an office chair with grids. The office chair’s back

holds several other pressure sensors to detect the person’s leaning posture. The pressure and

temperature sensors are located under the office chair. After receiving input time from the user,

the healthy chair is able to warn the user if he has been sitting for too long by alerting him from

the speech module. The fan below the chair’s seat is able to turn on after the chair seat’s

temperature goes beyond a set threshold temperature. The LCD displays which sensors are

activated and it also receives the user’s time input.

Project Videos