PRESSURE POTTY By: First Lego League Team 1359 Ashley Bouey, Evan Chang, Emma Lopez Aiden Lupu, Chandrark Muddana and Erik Tapia Coaches: Christina Lin and Leslie Lopez
WHO ARE WE? • First Lego League (FLL) Team 1359 – Robo-Rebels • From Suzanne Middle School in Walnut, CA • We are 6 th and 7 th graders that range in ages 11-13 • We are part of Suzanne Middle School Robotics Club that participates in FLL competitions
WHAT IS FIRST? (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)
WHAT IS FLL? • FLL introduces younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO- based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. FLL teams, guided by their imaginations and adult coaches, discover exciting career possibilities and, through the process, learn to make positive contributions to society. • Elementary and middle-school students get to design, build, and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS technology. • Apply real-world math and science concepts. • Research challenges facing today's scientists. • Learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills. • Participate in tournaments and celebrations.
FLL TOURNAMENTS • Tournaments are all day events that take place throughout Southern California. • Teams are judged on 4 categories: • Robot Performance • Robot Design • Core Values • Project Presentation
ROBOT PERFORMANCE/DESIGN • Teams will use the Lego Mindstorms EV3 kit to build and engineer their competition robot. • Teams will use the Lego Mindstorms EV3 software to program the robot. • Teams will have 2 minutes and 30 seconds to have their autonomous robots complete missions and score points on a theme based playing field.
CORE VALUES • We are judged on how we incorporate the following core values into our lives: 1. We work as a team. 2. We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches. 3. We know coaches don't have all the answers; we learn together. 4. We honor the spirit of friendly competition. 5. We realize that what we discover is more important than winning. 6. We share our experiences with others. 7. We display Gracious Professionalism in everything we do. 8. We have FUN!
CORE VALUES
PROJECT • Teams must identify a real world problem. • Teams must seek advice from experts in the field and find its causes and effects. • Teams must develop an innovative solution or enhance an existing solution. • Teams must share their solution.
THIS YEAR’S PROJECT TOPIC • IDENTIFY a problem within the human water cycle • DESIGN a solution that makes this problem better • SHARE your problem and solution with others • In the Hydro Dynamics Challenge, the human water cycle describes the ways people find , transport , use , and dispose of water in order to meet a specific need or desire.
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM • Disneyland: A teammate went to a restroom at Disneyland with automatic flushers and noticed that the toilet flushed multiple times. • Brainstorming: The team was brainstorming ideas for the project and the teammate shared their experience at Disneyland. • We did extensive research online and consulted with experts in the field.
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM CONTINUED… • We found Mr. John Koeller online and read that he conducted a study measuring water consumption in the bathrooms of a Tampa, Florida office building. • They compared water use before and after the installation of flushometer devices, and found that water usage increased by 54% after automatic flush systems were installed. • We found that only 1.6 gallons of water is wasted per flush on newer toilets. • A majority of older toilets are still in use which use 3.5 gallons per flush. • Automatic flushers are wasting over 23 million gallons of water PER DAY!
HOW THE AUTOMATED TOILETS WORK • Infrared sensors that are installed in auto flush toilets are supposed to detect body heat when the user sits down to use the toilet. • When the user is leaving the stall, it detects the loss of body heat and activates the flushing mechanism.
WHY DO THEY MALFUNCTION? Automatic toilets are very common and often fail because of three main reasons: • They get a lot of physical abuse because they are located in public places. • The valve parts can wear out with time. • The sensor on the automatic flush valve can go out of adjustment over time.
FINDING THE SOLUTION • One of our teammates great- grandmother used a bed alarm for safety. • The wireless bed alarm has pressure sensors that alert caregivers when their patient is getting out of bed. • We thought, why not use the same technology on toilets!
OUR SOLUTION • Replace the toilet seat bumpers with pressure sensors. • The automatic flusher is in an idle state and is activated only when someone sits on the toilet. • When pressure is released, the toilet will wait 10 seconds before flushing once. • If the person sits back down before 10 seconds, the timer will reset.
BUILDING OUR PROTOTYPE • We worked with a product design engineer, Orlando Ochoa, to help us build a 3D model of our pressure sensor idea. • This simple working prototype enables and disables the automatic flusher to demonstrate our idea.
PROTOTYPE
HOW IT’S BENEFICIAL • Can be used for on all types of toilets EXCEPT for urinals. • SAVES OUR MOST precious natural resource. WATER!!
PROVISIONAL PATENT PENDING
CONSULTING WITH EXPERTS • John Koeller • PE. From KOELLER & COMPANY – MAP Testing (Maximum Performance) – Lead investigator for studies reviewing automated toilets versus manual flush toilets. • Pete Demarco • Executive Vice President of Advocacy and Research. • William McDonnell • Water Use Efficiency Manager, METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SO. CA. • Orlando Ochoa • Product Design Engineer
RESOURCES Maximum Performance Testing official website - http://www.map-testing.com/ “The Real Problem with Phantom Flushing Toilets”, by Karla Peterson http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/drought/sdut-do-auto-flush-toilets-waste-water- 2015sep24-story.html#ampshare=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/drought/sdut-do-auto- flush-toilets-waste-water-2015sep24-story.htmlhttp://www.conserveh2o.org/toilet-water-use/ “How Phantom Flushing Wastes Water, and how to Fix It” by Marika Shioiri-Cark – http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shioiri-clark-drought-phantom-flushes-20150510- story.html#ampshare=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shioiri-clark-drought-phantom- flushes-20150510-story.html How Things Work: How do automatic flush systems in public toilets work? Answered by Evan Thomas - https://www.quora.com/How-Things-Work-How-do-automatic-flush-systems-in-public- toilets-work
OUR CHALLENGE TO YOU • PLEASE CONSIDER MENTORING/COACHING A LOCAL FIRST TEAM IN YOUR COMMUNITY • WE WOULD LIKE OTHER KIDS TO SHARE IN THE SAME AMAZING JOURNEY THAT WE WENT THROUGH
THANK YOU!!
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