Over the last five years, students in the Half Hollow Hills CSD have been working on ways to automate the process of growing food indoors (See previous posts). They have helped to build and care for a vertical hydroponics garden in the back of their science classroom as well as a CNC farming machine that resides adjacent to their cafeteria. The goal was to integrate engineering design, electronics, and computer science with plant science, aquaculture, and alternative forms of agriculture. The projects that have come from this endeavor have been nothing short of spectacular.
While COVID-19 has certainly shelved a number of these endeavors, a small group of students saw this as an opportunity to change the dynamic of their lab space. We’ve always affectionately referred to our collective growing environment as our “Mars Farm” and now we are looking to bring mission control into the living rooms of every student in our classroom.
Beginning in early April, I was able to fashion a simple grow cube out of some reclaimed pallet wood and some reflective sheathing we use in the lab. I inserted a small 10 gallon aeroponic cloner and a grow light. Typically this is all that would be needed to grow some plants indoors as we have done in our classroom. The original goal was to continue observing plants from home using a Wyze cam and filming remote lessons for my students. After receiving word that we were awarded a grant from NYSCATE to build out our research capabilities, I saw this as an opportunity to rethink the way all of this great technology could be used.
Our data collection process is guided by our participation in a NASA funded citizen science program run through Fairchild Botanical Garden. Using a MARSfarm growth chamber supplied in this Growing Beyond Earth challenge, a Raspberry Pi and the Adafruit IO+ IoT platform, we quickly realized that we could host our sensor data online for students to see in real time. Our incredibly talented students from our after school Code Club called Hack the Hollow were recruited to imagine where this could go. Their feedback was that it couldn’t only be something they looked at. It had to be something they could interact with in order to gain student buy-in. We went to work on developing a UI that could do both. Her name is C.A.M.I. (Computerized Agriculture Monitoring Interface). Here is a little more about what she can do.
Using our grant funds, we now have the ability to observe atmospheric and root zone variables using lab grade sensors purchased from Atlas Scientific. Variables include air temperature, humidity, CO2, O2, light intensity, water temperature, pH, nutrient level by way of EC, ORP, dissolved oxygen, and water volumes. Students are able to view these in real-time 24/7 as well as historical data on our Adafruit IO dashboard. Students can even participate in calibration sequences for the various probes while in guided mode during live lessons. This would allow students to work as remote lab partners to analyze the data and construct potential research projects for studying plant growth from afar.
In order to allow for some interaction, we incorporated the use of MotorHATs, transistors, and IoT relays that allow for students to exchange air in the environment with DC cooling fans, adjust the photoperiod and color frequency of our grow lights, and even dose the water reservoir with pH adjustment and nutrient solutions using peristaltic pumps. Not only can these be turned on and off, but they can be modified for selected time periods, dosage volumes and fan speeds.
In order to check in and observe qualitative plant health metrics, the cube is equipped with a Raspberry Pi NOIR Camera module and IR flood light that posts pictures to our Adafruit dashboard, captures time-lapses of the plants, and allows for observations of plant behaviors when the lights are off. Additionally, the cube incorporates a Wyze V2Camera for live video feeds during remote lessons.
While we are still documenting the electronics and code behind the project to share outward with interested partner schools, the ultimate goal is for this prototype to allow us to convert our entire lab space into a remote learning and research opportunity. If you cannot come to class, we will bring it home to you! Stay tuned.