Assignment 8.2/9.2: Product Liability

Some potential hazards in our proposed design involve the automatic watering system. 

• Water from the reservoir could potentially leak from faulty connections in the hoses or damage to the container.

• The valve that controls the flow of water to the potted plant could allow too much water or too little water through to the drip hose. If too much water is released too quickly, there is the potential for damage to the customer's belongings in close proximity to the plant.  Too little water could cause the plant to become too dry and potentially die.

• If water leaked from the system or overflowed onto electrical components, damage could be caused to the microcontroller and other electronics.  While unlikely, a leak on to the power management portion of the design could cause the user to be electrocuted.

If internet connectivity is developed for our product design, it can pose a security hazard for customer's Local Area Networks. 

Water hazard preventative measures:

• Proper materials would need to be chosen and tested for the reservoir, hoses, and connection in the watering system. The team would have to ensure that these components would withstand even extreme and unlikely conditions.

• Short-circuit protections would need to be incorporated into the electrical design of the product to prevent potential shocks or damage if water leaked on-to the electronics.

• To help mitigate problems from over-watering or dryness in the case of failure in the watering system, an alert system could be set up to notify the customer if humidity levels exceed a set threshold. An emergency "cut-off" system could also be added to the water line to prevent over-watering if the main valve could not be controlled. 

Regarding network security, keeping access to information and monitoring capabilities limited to the LAN would help avoid potential security risks. If a design with internet connectivity was chosen for the final product proper security measures would need to be incorporated to ensure safe and secure access to the plant monitoring system.