February 17:

  • Gathered most materials
  • Cut the cardboard to fit the bucket

February 21:

  • glued the cardboard together
  • painted the cardboard to cover the tape
  • Cut sun-board and glued it to the bucketFebruary 23:
  • painted the sun-board
  • cut out cardboard for the switch
  • attempted to solder the switch, solar panel and water pump, but the solar panel wouldn’t stand on its own

Outside of school:

  • Ordered some plastic plants for the sun-board

February 27:

  • used cardboard to make a stand for the solar panel
  • soldered the switch, solar panel and water pump together
  • Attached the water pump and PVC tube to the cardboard

March 1:

Improvements and feedback:

  • At first, the main piece of cardboard had tape over it, and it was recommended by some peers that I paint over it, as the packaging tape may ruin the aesthetics.
  • Initially, I didn’t plan for a cardboard stand to assist the solar panel. It was suggested by a classmate after we shortly discussed how to fix the unstable solar panel and why this would be better than directly gluing it to the cardboard. This proved to be very beneficial, as it also allowed for the solar panel to tilt in a way that could enable it to absorb sunlight better.
  • I lowered the water pump by removing the glue and sliding the PVC tube downwards. This was because I noticed that although I added lots of water to the bucket, the water pump was still not submerged, meaning there would be no way for water to pump through the straw.
  • After testing the product for the first time, I, along with some classmates that came to test the device as well, noticed that there was slight leakage around the area of the plastic bottle and where the PVC tube passed through the cardboard and that the tube was slightly sliding downwards into the bucket. To fix this, my classmates recommended that I add more glue to secure the tube so it wouldn’t fall into the water and prevent leaking in further trials.
  • I had added some dirt onto the paint on the sun-board to recreate the actual plant ‘look’, but the dirt caused for some fake plants to slip and become unattached while the straw watered them, so if I had left some designated areas just for gluing the plants, I believe that this wouldn’t be a problem.