Project : reading the current and voltage of the soil battery
In our project, we aimed to utilize microorganisms, particularly bacteria, in soil to conduct electricity, tapping into natural electrochemical reactions to generate electrical energy. The concept is straightforward: the soil battery serves as the input, with the intelligence of both bacteria and artificial intelligence acting as the processing element, and the output being a visual 3D printed model representing data fluctuations of current and voltage within the soil's microorganisms.
Our experimentation revealed several factors influencing the conductivity of electricity in soil batteries, including soil composition, moisture content, temperature, density, compaction, and electrode placement. Initially, we used store-bought soil with varying moisture levels to observe conductivity fluctuations, finding that increased moisture enhanced conductivity efficiency.
With the objective of utilizing intelligence to process inputs into physical outputs, we explored different options incorporating AI and microorganism intelligence. Ultimately, we focused on using voltage, current, and noise fluctuations from soil batteries to examine microorganism communication. We constructed a series circuit with 16 insulated cups of soil connected by copper wires and nails, yielding a stable voltage of approximately 12V initially but later fluctuating to around 5V due to changes in soil conductivity.
To visually represent microorganism communication, we employed a current sensor carrier to capture additional electrical data, which informed adjustments to a 3D model's x, y, z axis in Blender. Utilizing prompts with ChatGPT, we generated Python code to read voltage, current, and noise values in Blender, facilitating the visualization of bacterial communication.
This process required detailed prompts to ChatGPT and specific Python code implementation in Blender to accurately represent the interplay of variables and serial communication facilitated by Arduino.
