With less than a month left until the presentation of our bubble tea machine, we now had to assemble the setup so that we could transport and use it easily. We had to ensure that the Arduino Giga and the 4-channel MOSFET that was connected to the pumps was kept away from liquids but still close enough to be connected to the various components such as the load cell, stepper motor and pumps.
We also needed to use containers that could hold large quantities of the liquids and boba so that the setup could make at least 10 cups of bubble tea. We found jerry cans with a capacity of five litres to store the four different liquids. To hold and protect the electronics, we 3D printed a box with a cover and two holes on its sides for the wires. This kept the electronics protected from the liquids while keeping it near the other components.
However, we still needed to organise all the components. For that, we found a storage box that was big enough to store the four jerry cans that served as liquid containers as well as the box for the electronics. We drilled holes into the lid of the box so that the pumps could be fitted in without risking liquids spilling into the box.
The pumps were held in place by pump holders, placed on top of the jerry cans, with connecting tubes to the pump that led to the cup.
We 3D printed a tube holder to organise the tubes such that the liquids from the pumps will flow straight into the cup. Additionally, we printed a customised cup holder with holes for the screws to be placed to connect it to the load cell beneath, such that the cup is placed onto the load cell. This allowed the load cell to continuously read the weight of the items within the cup. Since we bought a special cup for the purpose of this presentation, in our code, we ensured that the load cell was calibrated to the weight of this specific cup, so that the weight of the items within the cup would be more accurate.
Now that the setup was finalised and organised, we had finally finished making our bubble tea machine. Thank you for following along with our journey and we hope you enjoy our bubble tea! 🙂