College
College of Engineering (COE)
Date of Last Revision
2023-05-03 16:48:29
Major
Mechanical Engineering - Cooperative Education
Honors Course
4600:497
Number of Credits
4
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Date of Expected Graduation
Spring 2020
Abstract
Our Senior Design Project is the construction and implementation of an automatic seeder that is to be used in the agricultural industry. The automatic seeder is being designed to eliminate prevalent issues within the process of planting seeds by hand, such as labor requirements and inconsistent operations. The seeder is meant to reduce time spent on planting seeds and place them in an efficient manner for optimal growth conditions.
This project will require several specific research questions to be addressed in the form of application and good usability. We will investigate the method of planting the seed, the conveyor track for the apparatus to move on, and the overall time effectiveness of our device on the planting process. Through mathematical modeling and design embodiment we will address the correct application uses, such as the force required to plant the seed and the power input for the model.
Our overall goal is to have our device provide an efficient and meaningful process of planting seeds for small farming establishments. By doing so, an easier accessible food source will be available to areas in need. An example of this is the agricultural process in India. In India’s current state, the agricultural industry for smaller size farms is mainly composed of human labor as a workforce. This has proven to be time costly and error abundant. The introduction of our Automatic Seeder will provide a new way to ration planting seeds at a consistent basis. The seeder will accommodate any potting tray and will insert seeds underneath the soil for each pot location on the tray. The seed being placed underneath the soil is a main goal of ours, as this is an active problem with the current hand labor methods. As opposed to the hand planting method, our seeder will be precise with the amount of seeds to be planted to help lower planting costs and to establish a stable base planting method. This seeder will help small businesses plan costs more efficiently for buying seeds, planting time, crop growth, and a predictable harvest.
Research Sponsor
Dr. Gopal Nadkarni
First Reader
Dr. Scott Sawyer
Second Reader
Dr. Jon Gerhardt
Honors Faculty Advisor
Dr. Gopal Nadkarni
Recommended Citation
Bunting, Zachary; Muscarella, Nicholas; Tout, Trevor; and Denny, Dalton, "Automatic Seeder" (2020). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 1204.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1204
Included in
Agricultural Economics Commons, Computer-Aided Engineering and Design Commons, Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons