Problem Statement: Rochester Roots, a local non-profit organization, in conjunction with the Montessori School in the Rochester City School District requested a seed starter kit to be built to help educate students on the life cycle. A seed starter kit is a semi-enclosed unit that allows the user to place seeds inside the unit and monitor aspects of their growth with the goal of plating during the harsh winter and transplanting them outside in the spring. A previous unit was designed which housed the seeds properly and functioned well. Rochester Roots has requested that a modified unit be developed which has a light physically attached to the unit, smaller in size for counter top use, stackable and able to monitor and output selected data.

The goal of this project is to redesign the unit housing to make it easier to stack for shipping purposes and in the classroom or home, integrate controlled lighting, add more data monitoring for soil moisture, temperature and light and reduce production costs. The end result will build upon the original design while improving its range of capabilities. The resulting product will meet the specifications set by the Rochester Roots and will be their intellectual property.

Final Product

Project Name

Marketable, Stackable Seed Starter Kit

Project Number

P16419

Project Family

Sustainability

Start Term

2151

End Term

2152

Faculty Guide

Sarah Brownell, sabeie@rit.edu

Primary Customer

Jan McDonald Rochester Roots, jan@rochesterroots.org

Sponsor (financial support)

Rochester Institute of Technology and Rochester Roots

Project Management

Planning & Execution

Project Photos and Videos

Imagine RIT

Problem Definition

Systems Design

Subsystem Design

Preliminary Detailed Design

Detailed Design

Gate Review I

Build & Test Prep

Subsystem Build & Test

Customer Buy-off and Update

Integrated System Build & Test

Integrated System Build & Test with Customer Demo

Customer Handoff & Final Project Documentation

End of Year Gate Review