Green Thumb

While completing my studies at MIT, I worked with the MIT Photovoltaic Laboratory for nearly 4 years as an undergraduate researcher, designing and testing solar-powered devices. One of these is an automated plant-watering system called “Green Thumb.” I worked with MechE NSF Fellow Erin Looney to design two revisions of a printed circuit board (PCB) for GreenThumb in KiCAD, and hand-assembled the PCB via SMT (surface mount soldering). I also worked with Erin to (pore through endless datasheet pages and) program the microcontroller used for GreenThumb, which was a dsPIC. Though we weren’t able to complete the project, I’d say this wasn’t too shabby (though, perhaps, wildly ambitious) for my first ever PCB design!