Anyone with experience dealing with auto-watering or drip feeding in soil?

So here is the situation I am dealing with. I am working on a system for my friend who has to work out of town frequently. The setup will be 9 plants in soil in 3 gallon smart pots. I personally converted to hydro and always hand watered while using soil. So farI have the rez/pump and have a main feed line running to a 9 port adjustable manifold. There will be 1/4" tubing running to each one of the plants. I am planning on making watering rings out of the 1/4" tubing to go around each plant. The rings will have small holes cut out to spread the water. Also considered using regulated drippers if running on a timed drip setup. I have done quite a bit of research and expect lots of trial and error. Does anyone have some experience with a setup similar to this one? Looking for feeding timing/schedule help/info. Let me know if I left any important info out. Just got home from a long day and am ready to fire one up! I look forward to and appreciate all of the help!!!

Thanks for the link Chum. Hoping to get all the kinks worked out before it really needs to be put to the test and depended on!