Smart Bridge Using Arduino With Auto Height Increase

Hey guys in this instructable i will show you how to make a smart bridge that will automatically elevate its height if it detects any flood.

You may have already seen such concept in real life or atleast in some action seems, But i got inspired from this concept and built a mini version of the same for showing you guys.

This automated bridge has lots of advantages, During the natural calamities most of the bridges gets wiped away because of water and considering the current technology this issue can be prevented.

There are other simpler version of such projects but i made a more advanced version! Ask me how

I have added a display that shows the status of water level in real time, the sensor will be dry if no water is detected and in case if the water is detected by the sensor we have a red led and oled displays messages.

By default the OLED will show safe level as the message and if the water level or flood happens then you will get this message and alert, Instead of an LED you can replace the same with buzzer that will alert with sound.

The project is very useful as you will get a chance to learn more about the technology that is used in daily lives across the surroundings.

You can easily build this project as i will be giving you all the sources that you will need like the circuit diagram, program and the build instructions.

like always there is also a working video given at ṭhe end of this project, Consider checking to have a better look on the working part of this smart bridge.

Here is the list of components that you need to build this project

Arduino Uno

Micro servo

OLED module

Soil moisture sensor

Small breadboard

Battery holder with dc pin

Red Led

Sheet of cardboard

Paper and marker

Scissor

Clear tape

Water in a small jar

Arduino IDE

Programming cable

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The circuit consists of 3 major components apart from arduino itself

The micro servo, OLED and soil moisture sensor, To make it easier for everyone i will explain the connections component wise.

I will use the power from the battery to power this project, since we have 3 components we need 3 separate pin on uno and we don't have it, To solve this problem i will connect the 5v and gnd pins of the uno to the breadboard power rails.

Likewise connect the GND and VCC of all the 3 components to power rails of the breadboard now you can easily understand the circuit!

Micro servo signal pin is connected to D4 pin on the uno board.

Oled board scl is connected to A4 and Sda is connected to pin A5 on the Uno whereas the signal pin of the soil sensor is connected to D5 on the uno.

This will complete the circuit connections for this project, Now we can head over to program part.

Connect the uno board to computer, Open arduino IDE and paste the code given below.

Check for proper board number and the board type, There is no need of any additional library if you used the IDE before if it asks for may missing library just add them and upload the program again.

After the program is done uploading to the board we can test the project and i will show how that can be done in the next steps.

After you build all the circuit connection and upload the code before you put it on the actual model on cardboard you should test the circuit to check if everything is fine as expected or any new changes is to be made.

To test the circuit all you need is a glass of water.

Connect the uno board to dc power source it can be using the battery or with the USB cable, now OLED should show by default safe level as the message and this message can be changed in the code part.

Now dip the soil sensor onto the water, The OLED will show not safe and immediately the red LED will start to glow, Now the servo should make some movements.

You can change the servo response time and the angle of servo horn rotation in the arduino program as per your needs.

If you think the soil moisture sensor is not working as expected try turning the pot given at the back of the sensor and now it might solve your issue.

Now we are sure that the circuit is working fine so we can head over to placing all these components on a piece of board and arrange them.

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To make the bridge there are plenty of ways and i will show the simple and effective way where you can make this in very less time.

I will use tubes made of paper that will act as a support for the bridge, You can also use other alternatives like the tube from the paper straw also.

Cut the piece of cardbaod and using hot glue connect these legs to the base of the cardboard and it will look a small chair when it is done, Repeat the same step for the other part too.

Now as we have 2 legs we needed a road(bridge) that runs between these 2 legs and i will show it too.

Take a piece of cardboard and glue it with black paper, If you don't have black paper you can simply paint on the cardboard and make it black.

Cut white strips of paper and glue it on the surface of cardboard so that it will look like the road, Now measure 2 cm lines from the end and make a small mark.

With the help of paper cutter cut these pieces and use clear tape to join again, This will act as a hinge for the bridge.

Now the bridge is ready and we can add it to the main base, Make sure the length of the bridge is not too high or not too low since this may effect the working when servo is connected.

Place the bridge supports on the sheet of board to check the alignment, If everything seems ok apply hot glue to the base and press on the base for some time until glue is dry.

Do the same for the other support too, pre check the length between these and the bridge that we made earlier.

At the center but to the top side add a small support to the servo placement, In my case i used cut piece of hot glue stick.

Attach the servo here and we need only half servo horn, if you have 180 degree type trim off the other side.

In the end i had to make some change to the top part of the supports, The bridge would fall off so i made use of popsicle sticks to the side of these that solved the problem.

This will cover the bridge lift part, You can make the mechanism using stepper motor for much smooth movements but for me this was doing the great job so considered using the servo itself.

Now we are almost done and the only thing pending now is testing and let us see how that is done.

The type of design that i chose for this model is seen as shown, I wanted it to be small so that it will be easy to carry around.

I will use water in a small container that will act as a flood, Like you can see I'm powering this project with battery power and a dc pin with 3 lithium ion batteries.

Once you connect the power, OLED will show safe level as the message and once you dip the sensor onto the water immediately the red light starts to glow.

Now the OLED will show flood detected and offcourse you can change this message in the arduino program, You can also place a small plastic container and pour the water.

The concept here is the soil moisture sensor will trigger the servo when it detects small amount of water.

If you think buzzer would do a great job in alerting you when the water level is increasing simply connect the buzzer instead of the LED or you can connect both too, The choice is left to you.

Hope you have enjoyed my project, Such projects will not only help you gain technical knowledge but also it will enable you to think outside of the box, Like for example this project is about making smart bridge now you will start to think how things actually work if you think deep.

Thank you and don't miss to check the working video of this project on below step.

Here is the detailed video tutorial of this project, If you want to know how this project works you can simply consider watching this video.

If you still have any questions even after watching this video, don't worry we always have comment box to resolve the problem.

If you have made such projects let me know what new feature can i add to make this bridge more useful.

That was all about this project, Thank you for reading and if you are planning to build this i would like to say all the best!