Automated Hydroponic Herb Harvester

I worked with a team of my classmates on a capstone project at Dalhousie University to build this machine for Harvest Clean Eats, a local restaurant company. Harvest was operating automated herb farms inside shipping containers at the time and wanted a machine capable of harvesting herbs at scale with minimal manual labour.

I took the lead position on the team, as well as the responsibility of doing all the CAD work while also heavily collaborating on mechanical analysis, prototyping, and multiple rounds of technical documentation and reporting. I worked 200+ hours - from initial ideation to final assembly. The design included safety features such as emergency stops and guarding, potentiometer-controlled speed adjustment, and acrylic panelling for visibility and containment.