During my work conducted at COREMATIC, I was part of a team that was tasked with designing, developing and fabricating a reverse vending machine that could accept bottles for the 10 cents recycling initiative in Australia. This proved to be a very complex machine with countless hurdles and extensive problem solving. The machine had a specific criterion that had to be met to accommodate for the Australian standards in safety, public use and for the recycling scheme itself. I was heavily involved in the mechanical, electrical, and programming side of this project.
I started with getting my hands on the tools and worked on the physical construction of the machine, this provided critical insight into the 'workings' of the machine. Following this, I designed mechanical parts (including CAD modelling and technical drawings) to solve issues that arose. I orchestrated the fabrication process of these parts and managed the Quality Assessment to ensure all parts were produced correctly and at a high standard to avoid delays and unnecessary mistakes. As the machine was refined, I handled the selection and implementation of specific hardware, such as the stepper motors and weight system utilised in the machine's bottle checking system.
The electrical system of the machine became a complex aspect due to the extensive sensors, AI and bottle sorting capabilities. A single line on the machine was able to accept multiple bottle types and had to accurately detect and sort them into isolated bins. I was involved in the cabinet designing and wiring for the prototype machine, which lead me to managing the re-design of the electrical system for the second version of the machine. This entailed the re-design of the electrical system, creating documentation, creating schematics, and overseeing the production of the electrical panels/cabinets that are installed inside the machines.
For programming, I assisted the lead engineer with class implementation for the stepper motors and weight system used in the machine. This was performed in python and was focused on protocols such as ModBus and Serial. In addition, this project had an Internet Of Things (IOT) dashboard for tracking maintenance and providing live data for analysis. I designed and created this IOT dashboard through Thingsboard. The dashboard collects the data from a SQL database and the machine, to showcase critical information, alarms, and user details for maintenance and performance evaluation.
This project was an in-depth undertaking by the team involved. It taught me to fail fast and learn quick while embracing the ups and downs of a project life cycle. The continuous two steps forward and one step back, allowed me to practice my ability to adapt and roll with the changes while still upholding a high standard and focusing on the end goal.
The prototype of this machine was covered on social media and by the news, Noosa trials new Containers for Change vending machine - Waste Management Review .
