Alright guys, so today I'm spilling the beans on my latest project: an automatic shoe cleaner machine. Sounds fancy, right? Well, let me tell you, it was a journey.

It all started with a simple problem: I'm lazy. I hate cleaning my shoes, especially after a muddy hike or a rainy day. So, I thought, "Why not build a machine to do it for me?"

First things first, I grabbed some basic materials. I'm talking a plastic container (an old storage bin I found in the garage), a couple of scrubbing brushes (the kind you use for dishes, nothing too fancy), a small water pump (picked it up cheap online), some PVC pipes, and a bunch of wires and connectors.

Then came the fun part: hacking it all together. I started by mounting the brushes inside the container. I drilled holes in the bottom of the container and used bolts and nuts to secure them. I made sure the brushes were close enough together to scrub the shoe but not so close that they'd get stuck.

Next, I rigged up the water pump. I connected it to a water source (a bucket, for now) and ran PVC pipes to nozzles positioned above the brushes. The idea was to spray water onto the brushes while they were scrubbing. It was a bit messy at first, I gotta admit. Water was spraying everywhere! But after some adjustments to the nozzle positions, I got it working reasonably well.

Now for the brains of the operation: the electronics. I used a simple Arduino board to control the water pump and a small motor that I attached to the brushes to make them spin. I wrote a quick program to turn on the pump and motor for a set amount of time when a button was pressed. Think of it like a super basic washing machine program.

Testing was... interesting. My first few attempts ended with shoes soaked and only partially cleaned. The brushes were either too rough or not rough enough. The water pressure was all wrong. It was a comedy of errors.

But I kept at it. I swapped out the brushes for softer ones. I added a flow regulator to control the water pressure. I tweaked the Arduino code to adjust the cleaning time and brush speed.

After countless iterations, I finally achieved something that actually cleaned my shoes! It's not perfect, mind you. It still requires a bit of manual scrubbing for really stubborn dirt. But it's a huge improvement over hand-washing.

Here’s the breakdown:

• The shoe goes in.
• You press the button.
• The brushes spin and water sprays.
• A few seconds later, you pull out a cleaner shoe.

Was it worth the effort? Absolutely! I learned a ton about electronics, mechanics, and problem-solving. Plus, I now have a semi-automatic shoe cleaner machine. Win-win!

Of course, this is just the beginning. I have big plans for future upgrades: a drying function, automatic detergent dispenser, maybe even a laser cleaning system (okay, maybe not the laser).

But for now, I'm happy with my humble shoe-cleaning robot. It might be a bit rough around the edges, but it gets the job done. And that's all that matters, right?