Rowes Bay Sensory Sprint Day
Having evolved over billions of years, nature has proven itself as the most effective manager of its natural resources. As humans continue to modify their environments, there is much we can learn from how nature and animals live. The only way we can learn from nature is to understand it, and the first step is to study it.
The Rowes Bay Sensor Network Sprint will be held on the 23rd May, 9am-4pm, and will see four teams tackle separate ecosystems at the Rowes Bay Sustainability Education Centre. Interested in entering? Enter here.
| Wetland | Suburbia | Woodland | Coastal Dunes |
| What causes soil moisture to remain longer through the dry season? | What are the conditions in an external suburban environment, such as your backyard? | How does the presence of natural shade, and insulation affect the local environment? | How does breeze and beating sun affect the temperature through the day? |
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What are we doing?
The Robo Club has teamed up with JCU eResearch and Townsville City Council to form this challenge.
Four teams will each be assigned a separate environment, and will each an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to monitor that environment.
We don’t know yet what solutions the teams will come up with, but we are expecting temperature, humidity, wind speed, lighting, and other novel solutions.
What is a Sprint?
In a sprint, a team races to complete an entire project in a single day. At the end of the day, there must be a (rough) working design, but the design must work from start to end.
This means that teams must develop a solution that gathers data, pushes it to the web, processes it, and aesthetically displays the results to a web page.
How can you be involved?
Anybody is welcome down for the day. If you are interested in engineering, IoT, or sustainability, please come along. There will be plenty to see, do and learn.
Want to try this at home yourself? Check out some of these links:
- Arduino - The DIY electronics must-have.
- Sparkfun Inventors Kit - Great for kids and beginners.
- Instructables - Make your own temperature logger.
Do you want to compete? Contact us at jcurobotics@gmail.com
What is the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things (IoT) represents the growing connectivity of smart things, whether these be households, appliances, or even ecosystems. This technology offers new opportunities to study how things interact and learn from them.
Thanks
A big thanks goes to Townsville City Council and JCU eResearch for making this event possible, and to Solex for supplying the gear.
