Have you ever wondered what it takes to push a prototype from a rough idea to a near-finished solution in just a few weeks?

Welcome back to my Week 5 update from Rice University’s SEED program! If you’re just joining my journey, I highly recommend checking out my previous blogs to see how my team and I moved from brainstorming sketches to building real solutions with real impact. This week was all about fine-tuning, testing smarter, and ensuring our designs are ready for the next big steps, all while acquiring new skills and enjoying some well-deserved fun along the way.

EARTI: Leveling Up the System
This week was all about bringing our EARTI camera system closer to reality and refining the details that make the difference between a messy prototype and something ready for real-world use. I kicked things off by polishing the preset movement feature, so the camera now glides automatically to any level the user selects, smooth, simple, and repeatable. To make this happen, I wrote some Arduino code. We SLA-printed a custom glide for the Raspberry Pi Zero, which will handle signals to the ESP32 that controls all the vertical movement and panning.

Wire management was next on the hit list, something that’s easy to overlook but critical for a moving system like this. We brainstormed clever solutions like retractable cables and drag chain carriers to keep wires neatly tucked away and out of trouble while the camera slides up and down.

Midweek, we got a boost of clarity and motivation when we visited EARTI’s office to meet Naveed and his partner. It was great to finally share our progress face-to-face, talk through some of our biggest blockers, and pitch our plan for a custom web app to control the whole setup, since TrollMaster stayed silent for five weeks! They gave us the green light, and the lunch treat was a bonus, trying monkey bread for the first time was definitely a highlight I won’t forget.

With the plan clear, we moved fast, ordering a 70-inch aluminum extrusion and a new food-safe polyethylene belt tough enough to handle the humid conditions in a hydroponic grow system. By the end of the week, we’d torn down our old prototype and rebuilt a taller, sleeker version, complete with the new glide and a belt tensioner for smoother motion. We mounted everything on a sturdy wooden base, thanks to the hands-on help from Erin and Professor Bisesti.

None of this would have come together without the drive and teamwork of the whole EARTI crew. Every idea, every fix, every bit of energy this week moved us closer to a working solution we can be proud of.

Drain Saver: Smarter Cooling & Smart Monitoring
This week, our Drain Saver project made real strides as we tackled the challenge of cooling the autoclave steam without wasting water, and with more reliable data to back up our ideas.

It started with installing our newly arrived finned clamps onto the condensate pipes. With the clamps in place and the small radiator hooked up to a p//ump, we tested how slowing the pump’s speed would affect the cooling, it worked, but not quite enough. We saw a temperature drop of about 20°C, which was a good start but still far from our goal of dropping the pipe’s 300°F steam down to around 120°F.

The real hurdle was getting precise, repeatable measurements, working by hand with extreme heat isn’t exactly fun or foolproof. So, I built a smart solution: I wrote Arduino code to link up thermocouples, feed live temperature readings to the Arduino IDE, and store the data for easy analysis. Now, instead of standing there with a thermometer, we can let the system monitor itself, saving us time and giving us better data.

But we didn’t stop there. We brainstormed how to boost cooling even more and came up with an extra push: adding two fans to the finned clamps to pull heat away faster. I updated the Arduino again, added an SD card module, and made sure it saves all readings in a neat CSV file, ready for Excel.

By the end of the week, our upgraded setup, three thermocouples reading input, output, and ambient temperatures, plus fans pulling extra heat, dropped the pipe temp from 90°C to about 25°C. That’s a massive improvement and a big step closer to hitting our target without water. Best of all, the device can run on its own, logging temps while we get other work done. Seeing the numbers line up exactly how we hoped was a real win for everyone.

I can’t shout out the Drain Saver team enough, everyone brought smart ideas, patience, and hustle to keep pushing this project forward, test after test. Progress like this doesn’t happen by luck, it happens because people stay locked in.

Skills Gained
This week, I gained practical skills that will benefit future projects. On Tuesday, Erin introduced us to a poster-making workshop, where we were tasked with creating posters for each project, due the following Monday. I also learned to use wood lathe machines in the wood workshop, thanks to Erin and Professor Bisesti’s guidance. Operating the lathe required precision to shape the wooden workpiece for Earti’s new extrusion, enhancing my fabrication skills and confidence in handling workshop tools.

Beyond the projects, this week was packed with memorable moments. On Tuesday, I visited the Rice post office to pick up a package for a friend. On Wednesday, we welcomed Mr. Huff, a sponsor of Rice University’s OEDK (Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen). We showcased our projects, and he offered valuable feedback and encouragement. That same day, we celebrated Dr. Holmes’ birthday with cakes brought by Tasia, Mr. Huff and Dr. Holmes enjoyed them, and we all had a slice! On Friday, we met with Emily and Mitchell to prepare for our upcoming Chevron presentation next week, discussing expectations and preparations. I’m excited for this opportunity! Over the week, we also visited Walmart, Target, HEB, CVS, and Walgreens for supplies.

On Saturday, thanks to Helena, Dohoon, and Tasia, we visited the Museum of Science and the Museum of Art. It was a fun and enriching experience, making the week even more special.

Week 5 has been packed with breakthroughs, lessons, and good memories. A big thank you once again to all our sponsors, mentors, supervisors, and my fellow SEED interns, your support keeps us moving forward, learning, and growing every day.

Let’s keep the energy up for the final Two weeks, see you in my next update!

Hey there, and welcome back to my blog! If you’re new here or need a quick refresher, you can catch up on all my earlier updates. This summer, I’m diving into two really exciting projects: one’s a smart egg prototype supporting conservation efforts for the Attwater Prairie Chicken, and the other a vertical inspection camera system to monitor microgreens in an indoor hydroponic farm. Both are fast-paced and hands-on, full of new challenges and plenty to learn.

This past week was all about iteration, unexpected pivots, and seeing our prototypes come to life piece by piece. From finally milling our first custom PCB and polishing new egg shells, to adding preset camera movements and swapping boards for a more efficient design, it was a week packed with small wins and bigger lessons.

Whether you’re here for the engineering deep dive, the design challenges, or the little life updates beyond the lab, I’m excited to share it all with you. So, let’s jump right in!

Egg Project Progress

We finally got the PCB from the Carvera mill machine! It felt like a huge step forward. But once we tested it, it still didn’t quite fit inside the egg shell. After trimming and slightly resizing the design, it finally fit neatly. During soldering, though, we discovered the traces were too close together — the solder kept bridging across lines, leading to short circuits. So, we redesigned the PCB again with wider traces to make soldering cleaner and more reliable. We also created a new 3D egg model with internal compartments to better stabilize the circuitry inside, and after printing, we polished the outer shell with the polisher machine to get a smoother, more realistic finish.

Since we need to make six eggs for our client, I focused on debugging PCB connections for two eggs this week. We also emailed Ric (our client) inviting him to visit and see how the eggs look at different polishing levels. Aside from the electronics and physical design work, we started testing how the substation (our Raspberry Pi) receives data from the PCB circuitry via Bluetooth and then sends that data to Firebase, which updates our website.

We successfully got the data stored in Firebase! It wasn’t fully decoded yet, but seeing the pipeline from hardware to database working felt like real progress. Finally, we started sketching ideas for the website UI, brainstorming features like adding an option for Rick to easily replace or add new eggs in the system, monitoring humidity and temperature, when a chicken sits on the egg during incubation periods and if the egg is being rotated during the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspection Camera Prototype

At the start of the week, we had a client meeting, and Navid reminded us:

“When designing, don’t think about cost,  think about reliability.”

This week felt like one big step forward, not just in building, but also in rethinking what’s possible for our vertical camera system inside EARTI.

At the start of the week, we clarified some key design constraints with Navid and discovered we actually have about 7 inches of vertical space at the top, instead of being limited to a 3-inch circle. That meant more room to add servo motors for panning and sturdier mounts. Plus, humidity at the top turned out to be less of a problem than we thought, staying around 46–50% thanks to the fan. Later, we showed him our prototype, and he liked seeing the smooth vertical camera movement on the belt-driven system.

By the end of the week, we had a functional prototype combining vertical motion, camera streaming, and controls. We swapped the Raspberry Pi 4B for a lighter Pi Zero, and tested a new camera with an IR filter. On the software side, we set up an RTSP stream viewable on any device on the same Wi-Fi network, and built a Python web server so users can start or stop the stream when needed. We also created preset camera positions so it can move automatically to specific plant trays.

Beyond building, we worked on next steps: sketching a servo bracket for CAD, researching belt and bracket systems, and buying parts to scale the design to its actual size. We switched from Arduino to an ESP32 for better communication with the Pi, and started planning how to merge Bluetooth, streaming, and motor control into one system. Finally, we prepared to install the prototype into the real EARTI frame to spot blockers early and tested the Pi Zero 2 W to confirm it meets our needs.

Towards the end of the week, we were reminded about preparing a project poster and pitch for the upcoming OEDK conference, which was a great nudge to pick up our work pace and keep everything moving forward.

 

A little life outside the lab

Friday was July 4th, Independence Day in the USA, so it was a public holiday! I spent it shopping for a new phone at the Apple Store and Micro Center with a fellow intern, Rahma. Later, we grabbed food at McDonald’s and watched the fireworks from Hermann Park. It was such a lovely weekend break, and Sunday was my rest day to recharge and catch up on some academic commitments back home in Nigeria.

This week was a great reminder that engineering is a cycle of designing, testing, and refining, and it’s so rewarding to see each prototype get better, step by step. Grateful, as always, for my amazing teammates whose creativity and persistence make all these challenges exciting to tackle!

Thanks for reading, see you next week!

Eniola 🙂

Welcome to my Week 4 update! In my previous blogs, I shared insights into our initial project setups, early challenges, and the exciting progress we’ve made. You can check out my Week 2 and Week 3 blogs to catch up on how my SEED internship has been shaping up so far.

This week brought even more growth as we moved our EARTI and Drain Saver projects closer to real solutions, acquired new technical skills, and even celebrated Independence Day in true American style!

EARTI: Bringing It All Together
After resuming on Monday, our team met with Naveed, our EARTI client, to update him on our progress since our last discussion. We discussed what’s working, the blockers we’re addressing, and how we plan to move forward this week.

Tuesday was focused on preparing for our design review with Dr. Holmes, where we showed him our latest improvements and plans. Over the week, we also found a workable solution to pan the entire system by adding a servo motor for rotation, which we successfully mounted to our wooden workpiece.

One big win this week was editing our code to enable preset movements; the user can now select which level or plant tray the camera should move to. We also designed and 3D-printed the camera mount, which holds the Raspberry Pi and camera securely on the moving plate of the belt mechanism.

Another upgrade: we switched from an Arduino to an ESP32. The ESP32 is smaller and makes it easier to communicate with the Raspberry Pi, which means our system is more compact and efficient.

This progress wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing EARTI team; everyone has shown so much energy, compassion, and determination to push this project forward. I’m grateful to be part of such a supportive group.

 

Drain Saver: Testing in the Real World
For Drain Saver, we started Monday bright and early in the autoclave room, installing our medium-fidelity prototype on the condensate pipes. This prototype was built over the weekend, so it was exciting to see it in place.

While there, we met Clint, a medical equipment technician who helps maintain Rice’s autoclaves. We explained our idea to reduce how much water the autoclaves use, and he offered us great advice and encouragement. He even shared his number so we can reach out anytime for extra guidance.

By the end of Monday, we returned to the autoclave room to measure temperatures with and without the prototype in place. We compared this new data to our previous baseline and noticed a slight temperature drop, progress, but we know there’s more work to do!

On Wednesday, we had our design review with Dr. Holmes, showing him pictures of the prototype installed and sharing our data. He noticed temperature fluctuations along different points of the pipe, something we hadn’t expected. Together, we returned to the autoclave room to take fresh measurements and figure out what was causing this. Clint helped explain why temperatures varied in certain spots.

Later in the week, Dr. Holmes assigned me to test the small radiator he gave us earlier. I passed hot water through it using a 12V DC water pump, measuring how much it cooled the water down with the help of a fan. To control the pump speed, we used an Arduino, a relay, and a potentiometer, which let us experiment at different speeds and record the temperature drop.

I’m incredibly proud of the Drain Saver team for their hard work, focus, and willingness to test every idea until we find what works best. Special thanks to them for staying locked in all week.

 

Skills Sharpened This Week
This week wasn’t just about testing; it was about learning by doing. I picked up some valuable practical skills:

• This week, I developed valuable hands-on skills. I learned to use a polishing machine to refine 3D-printed parts, smoothing rough surfaces to achieve a professional finish for components like our camera mount. The process involved carefully operating the machine, adjusting pressure, and selecting appropriate polishing compounds to enhance durability and aesthetics.

  

• Additionally, I sharpened my soldering skills by wiring connections for the radiator and water pump setup in the Drain Saver project. Using a soldering iron, I carefully joined wires to create secure, reliable connections between the pump, relay, and potentiometer, ensuring stable operation for our cooling tests.

  

These small but critical skills, from precise soldering to effective polishing, are adding up, equipping me with practical expertise for tackling complex prototyping challenges in future endeavors.

Independence Day & Community Moments
Thursday ended on a high note with a lovely team dinner, thanks to Elijah, who treated the international students to a great meal.

On Friday, we celebrated the American celebration of Independence Day on July 4th. It was my first time experiencing the holiday, fireworks everywhere, full of energy and patriotic pride. It was amazing to see how much it means to people here!

In all, Week 4 reminded me that teamwork, curiosity, and small steps forward make the biggest difference. I’m so grateful to our supervisors, sponsors, and my fellow interns for making this week productive and fulfilling.

Can’t wait to share what Week 5 holds, stay tuned for my next update! 🚀

 

Hey there, and welcome back to my blog! If you’re new here or need a quick refresher, you can catch up on all my earlier updates. This summer, I’m diving into two really exciting projects: one’s a smart egg prototype supporting conservation efforts for the Attwater Prairie Chicken, and the other a vertical inspection camera system to monitor microgreens in an indoor hydroponic farm. Both are fast-paced and hands-on, full of new challenges and plenty to learn.

This past week was a mix of technical breakthroughs, design hurdles, and some well-deserved downtime. From soldering tiny components and refining CAD designs to learning how to use the bandsaw and milling machines, it’s been a busy week that pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best ways.

Whether you’re here for the engineering deep dive or the behind-the-scenes moments, I’m excited to share it all with you. So, let’s jump right in!

Before diving into Week 3, let’s quickly recap: last week, our egg team made great progress connecting the substation wirelessly to Firebase using an ESP32, tested various camera setups for the hydroponic farm, built early breadboard circuits, and documented key design reviews. Building on that momentum, this week we tackled new challenges and refined our approaches across both projects.

Egg Project Progress
This week for the Eggcellent Imposters project, we tested our breadboard connection and saw everything worked, so we decided to solder wires directly to the Nicla Sense ME board to mount it on a perfboard. But after damaging two out of our three boards during soldering (harder than it looks!), we pivoted. Instead, we soldered header pins onto a perfboard, added the Nicla, battery, and tiny optimized resistors (my first time seeing resistors that small!). But then we hit a setback: the circuit was too large to fit inside the egg. I forgot to mention that one nicla sense board cost $50

To fix this, we designed a custom PCB using KiCad before translating the design to the Carvera CNC machine at the OEDK for milling. Since none of us had used it before, an OEDK staff member stepped in to help get the machine ready. But the PCB design wasn’t fully ready by the end of the week, as the staff member also needed to get familiar with the machine and figure out the best way to print smoothly on both sides of our board. Meanwhile, we explored using light PolyLite PLA to 3D print a shell that mimics a real Attwater Prairie Chicken egg and planned out the internal compartments for the circuitry.

Early in the week, we also had our design review with Dr. Holmes, where I drafted our documentation and reviewed it with my team before the presentation. We discussed our problem statement, constraints, CAD sketches, prototype expectations, and a detailed timeline breaking down daily tasks for each group member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camera Inspection Prototype Progress
For the light, camera, action team, we kept pushing our camera prototype further. We advanced the vertical inspection camera prototype by configuring it to auto boot so it starts up automatically when powered on. We also set up live streaming via RTSP, matching Navid’s preference for Trollmaster integration. Remembering Navid’s request for night vision and time-lapse, we brainstormed cameras that were waterproof, programmable, and compact, and finally found one that ticked all the boxes, so we ordered it. Navid shared something that stuck with me:

“Don’t cut costs at the expense of reliability.”
It’s something I’ve kept in mind as we choose components and refine our design.

Later in the week, we had our own design review with Dr. Holmes. As the first team to present that day, we shared our mounting design, client feedback, and next steps. Dr. Holmes advised us to build a wooden mock-up to visualize the camera’s fit inside the hydroponic frame. By Thursday, we fabricated that wooden platform, I even learned to use the JET JBS-14 bandsaw to cut the parts! We spent the rest of the week refining the design, brainstorming improvements, and sourcing food-safe materials, ordering a few motors that are relevant to our project and prepping for a higher-fidelity build.

Just before the weekend, we had an SLA printing class, where we tried printing our first egg model on the Formlabs printer. The first attempt failed (classic prototype life!), so the print rolled into next week. Also we went thrifting on Wednesday at the binz store where I got 14 pounds of clothing items for $31

Cutting out wooden part and mounting it well to our 2nd prototype

Weekend rewind: balancing life and academics
Back home, I’m still juggling final-year projects and coursework. My weekend was spent catching up on assignments, studying, and having quick calls with course mates. And because cooking always helps me reset, I made rice and beans with panla fish stew, a true Nigerian comfort meal, while unwinding with some movies.

Week 3 was long, busy, and full of new lessons, but every challenge made it worthwhile.
Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to check out my earlier posts if you haven’t yet!

Stay tuned for next week’s update, where we’re hoping to finally mill our custom PCB, test our camera mount, and see if that next egg print succeeds!
See you soon!

Eniola 🙂

Welcome to my Week 3 update! If you haven’t seen my Week 2 recap, you can catch up here.

This week was all about moving from early prototypes to more refined, testable solutions. Here’s how things unfolded for EARTI and Drain Saver, plus a few moments that made the week extra memorable.

EARTI: Tackling Real-World Details
We started the week strong on Monday by meeting our client, Naveed, at 10 AM to present our first working prototype for EARTI, the hydroponic grow system with a vertically moving camera. Naveed was impressed with our progress and encouraged us to continue, but he also shared concerns about material safety, as the system must be food-safe for hydroponic farming. He suggested helpful ideas which we noted down, and websites to source suitable materials.

Later that day, we had a 2 PM design review with Dr. Holmes. He provided us with valuable feedback on our mounting design, specifically on how to fix the top and bottom mounts inside the actual EARTI structure. He advised us to create a wooden workpiece to visualize and test the mounting in a real-world scenario. Throughout Wednesday, the EARTI team focused on addressing Naveed’s concerns and refining the mounting plan. By Thursday, we mounted our prototype onto the wooden piece to get a realistic sense of how it will fit inside the hydroponic setup.

On Friday, we scheduled a follow-up meeting with Naveed for next Monday to ask further questions about his ideas and material suggestions. With each prototype and review, we’re getting closer to a practical, build-ready solution.

 

Drain Saver: Simulating Better Solution
Meanwhile, the Drain Saver team kept busy, too. On Monday, we brainstormed updates for our low-fidelity prototype. We’re working to replace the continuous water flow in the autoclave cooling process with a more efficient cooler or heat exchanger. On Tuesday, we finalized our improved prototype design and had a 2 PM design review with Dr. Holmes. He liked our progress and we recommended we will run simulations to test our ideas before full-scale building which he gave a go ahead. I also powered up a small radiator (a “toy” that Dr. Holmes loaned us) which we plan to use for experiment with cooling hot water, a good learning moment for future iterations.

So, on Wednesday, we kicked off MATLAB simulations, using different libraries to model how our system could reduce the steam temperature effectively. Thursday was all about testing and comparing. I ran a Fusion simulation to see how heat dissipates in standard pipes versus pipes fitted with finned clamps for extra cooling.

By Friday, we started ordering parts to build a more accurate Drain Saver prototype. Although our simulation results didn’t exactly match the real data from the autoclave pipes, Dr. Holmes advised us to build a working physical model to gather more precise readings. It’s all part of the learning process!

New Skills: SLA 3D Printing
SLA 3D printing uses a light source to cure liquid resin into three-dimensional objects by exposing a vat or tank of resin to a light source, which hardens it. On Friday, I joined an SLA 3D printing workshop led by Erin. We learned how to operate the printer, wash, and cure printed parts. It was amazing to see digital designs transform into tangible, precise parts, another tool I’m excited to use in future builds.

In conclusion, I’m so thankful to the SEED sponsors, My team members and mentors(Dr. Holmes & Prof. Michelle) for making all of this possible. Every week is full of learning, experimenting, and connecting with brilliant minds. I can’t wait to see where Week 4 takes us!

See you next week for more updates!