Capstone Project (EECS 2018)
Capstone projects is one of the requisites that every UTM's electrical engineering student has to complete in order to graduate. In my 7th semester, I was put in a team of four students under the supervision of Ir. Dr. Lau Kwan Yiew in the area of Power Electronics. Our project was creating a smart waste segregation system for residential areas. We chose to segregate recyclable wastes to encourage and instill the love for recycling in people. We limited the types of wastes to only three so that the size of the smart bin will be like that of a standard size bin. Initially, I drafted all the designs for the smart bin due to my passion for designing. My team members helped in consulting and sharing their ideas on what's best for the technical aspects that will be embed to the bin.
We did our surveys around KTHO and Taman Universiti area to ask for people's opinions and their ideas on recycling as well as what they feel would be the best way to segregate wastes. Based on our findings, majority of the residents are keen in recycling, but only when it is convenient, user-friendly, inexpensive and less time consuming. We took those criteria into our consideration for the design of the prototype.
Above are photos from the presentation of our project proposal and one with our prototype. Some of the interesting questions that were brought up from the panels during the Q&A session went like "can it separate wastes that are made up of different types of materials?", or "what if a larger sized waste is thrown into it?" and many more. We took the criticisms positively to make improvements on prototype and the actual product.
We mainly used recyclable items for our smart-bin to comply with our theme of recycling. We also used a few different types of sensors and LEDs to detect the three types of wastes (metal, plastic, and 'others'). We named this smart bin as 'Mr. Bin' due to the smart, sleek and masculine look it has.
After weeks of hustle, the big day finally came where we get to showcase our final product at the Electrical Engineering Capstone Showcase (EECS). Our product and presentation were evaluated by the panels, and we also answered every inquiry about our smart bin. Thanfully, the capstone showcase was a success for my team and I.