Autonomous Pool Skimmer
This is my 2020 Summer Project
While stuck in quarantine, I took the initiative to finally solve a lifelong problem at my house. The pool in my backyard constantly collects leaves and other floating debris. It is my job to skim the pool of these floaties every day.
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In the summer of 2020, I quickly grew tired of this laborious and mindless job. So I designed, tested, and built my own Autonomous Pool Skimmer.
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It is an Arduino (microcontroller) controlled boat made of PVC pipes, Tupperwares, pool noodles, and a net. The boat is powered by a motor from an RC boat and uses a servo motor for self-steering. Push-button sensors at the front of the boat detect contact with the walls, and code is sent to the steering system to correctly maneuver the boat away from a wall or corner. It is battery operated and I have integrated a custom motor cooling system that uses the relatively cold pool water to cool the DC motor so it can run continuously for hours.
Now all I have to do it put the boat in the pool, sit back, and watch while the boat does the job for me.
DC Motor
Servo Motor
Arduino
Battery Pack
Push-Button Sensors*
Motor Cooling System
RC Boat Water Jet
*While the boat is skimming, the push-button sensors are at the front ends of the boat. They are shown here on a breadboard for illustration purposes.
What I Learned
In addition to the importance of keeping electronics watertight, I learned how to code in Arduino and the basics of developing code capable of interacting with the unpredictable physical world.