ECE 110/120 Honors Lab Section : Sound Controlled Water Turret

Statement of Purpose

Please provide a brief description of your project. List the goals and objectives of your project and explain why this project is useful for the problem your group want to solve or functions that make your project unique. 

Our goal in this project is to develop a water gun/turret (potentially portable) that shoots water according to the amplitude of the sound it detects instead of a standard trigger. We want to use the project as an opportunity to develop a new mechanism for a smart water gun. Going further with the project in the future, other kinds of sensors can replace the sound sensor to create a variety of different water guns. This project might be satisfying in a fun and novel sort of way, but it could also be seen as an exploration of a different approach to a preexisting product. In addition to being sound controlled, we wanted to create a water gun that has multiple shooting modes, using both a pump as well as a piston to switch between a typical stream as well as a larger burst.

Background Research

Please provide details on the background research your group has done for your project. Explain what drives you to work on this project and/or why this project is important. Also include discussions on any similar projects your group have looked at in coming up with your project. How is your proposed project different or similar to those your group have looked at. 

Ever since the water gun is invented, engineers applied different mechanisms and sizes to increase the water capacity and the range of the water gun. We wanted to implement electronics to water guns to provide us a cooler toy. Although, there is a company called Spyra that introduced a smart water gun that can suck and pump automatically, it still uses a standard trigger to function. In this project, we want to add a sound sensor to a water gun and allow it to be controlled using sounds. We originally considered other projects like a drone or self-stabilizing robot, but these options seemed less creative then a sound controlled water gun. In addition, this project forces us to be meticulous due to the nature of using electronics with water. Considering that electrical engineering will often call for the integration of electrical components into larger, more mechanical elements, a water gun which typically does not use electrical components will give us practice with this aspect of the field. Similarly, we will need to learn and successfully utilize skills that are unfamiliar to us, namely with creating mechanisms that move the water in the ways that we want.

Block Diagram / Flow Chart

Provide a simple block diagram of your hardware design. A block diagram is a schematic graphic that shows the interactions between different components in a hardware or software system. If appropriate, please also include a flow chart showing the steps your design needs to go through to function. The online program draw.io is a great tool to create polished block diagrams and flow charts. Likewise Microsoft's visio is also a great program to create block diagrams and flow charts.

System Overview

The main processing will be done through the Raspberry Pi. The switch to the right side of the Raspberry Pi will allow the user to specify which shooting mode he would like the gun to work in. Meanwhile, the microphone will allow the system to determine the magnitude of sound that the user is creating, which the Raspberry Pi will use to determine the amplitude of the stream created by the water turret. Given the input from the switch, the system will then be able to determine which device to use in a given instance (air compressor or piston) which will be used to push water through the main barrel. This barrel will be continuously refilled with water from the main water tank by a proprietary pump. All of the devices in the system will be powered through a main battery.

Parts

Provide a list of parts that you may need for your project. You should include details such as the quantity, model number, purpose, vendor, and price (excluding taxes and shipping) for each part. This list may change as you work on your project. 

Possible Challenges

Please list some of the challenges that your group foresee in working on your project.

• Ensuring shooting mechanisms are consistent and reliable
• Protecting electrical components from the water inside the water gun
• Creating isolated and air/water tight components to prevent leakage
• Creating easily interchangeable (and refillable) parts like the battery and water tanks

Final Deliverable Links

Report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gSEYE4zBbdzusufipkl11E1j_GLZezqfG5xFl-q0stw/edit?usp=sharing

Video: 

References

List all references you used in your proposal. This is important, you do not want to be blamed for plagiarism. IEEE citation format is highly recommended. You can use citethisforme.com's IEEE citation generator to painlessly generate your references in this style.

[1]Y. Ostr, "How to Make Mini Electric Water Gun - Easy to Build", Youtube.com, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7hjpqF8uKg. [Accessed: 19- Sep- 2021].

[2]"Former NASA engineer made a super gigantic water gun that can make two watermelons with water pressure", GIGAZINE, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20170712-world-largest-super-soaker/. [Accessed: 19- Sep- 2021].

[3]T. Harris, "How Water Blasters Work", HowStuffWorks. [Online]. Available: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/water-blaster.htm?utm_source=howstuffworks&utm_medium=recirc. [Accessed: 19- Sep- 2021].[

4]"Spyra", Spyra – US. [Online]. Available: https://spyra.com/pages/spyra. [Accessed: 19- Sep- 2021].