When we look a little deeper into the current system used to produce and grow food, we can quickly realize just how badly we’re doing.
We have left control, the way of producing and growing our food, to systems and forms of production that, in some cases, seriously harm our health and the environment.
For this reason, many people want to take back control of their diet. Thus, many and varied projects are emerging around the world that allow us a certain food autonomy, as long as we have a minimum of means. This farm is a good example of what is currently being researched and developed in this area.
Farmbot Genesis wants to help us change the way we produce our food by leveraging technology.
A combination of automation, free hardware, technology and “do it yourself” so fashionable today.
An automated system that operates 24/7, 365 days a year to grow and produce our own organic food.
Its standard size is ideal for a small garden, 1.5 meters wide by 3 meters long. It can be installed in a garden or even on a roof, it does not have an ideal location, it depends on your possibilities and your needs. You can even make a small greenhouse if your local climate isn’t suitable.
Farmbot sows the seeds you want to grow in your garden, with any pattern and density, it will effectively water them according to the type of plant, taking into account its variety, age, size, conditions local soil or climate.
You can combine different types of crops without any problem, since Farmbot Genesis will know what each plant needs in a personalized way, the idea is to optimize the growth of each plant in an individual and automated way.
The system hardware is designed for easy assembly and simple modifications. It gives you the tools to adapt it to your needs.
It is made of aluminum, stainless steel and 3D printed plastic. So that you can make the parts you need yourself. It is designed to operate outdoors without incident.
The system includes a seed injector, irrigation nozzle, soil sensor and the basic plant handling tool.
Farmbot uses an Arduino Mega board, Raspberry Pi 2, 17 servos and a large structure that can be customized according to our needs.. The Raspberry Pi 2, as explained here, is a small computer that is used in all sorts of projects. It can be used for things like voice control to activate devices remotely or to create arcade machines.
An orchard with varied crops, with an adequate rotation, from which you can benefit by having a healthy and balanced diet at your doorstep.
The system uses a camera and advanced machine vision software to monitor the orchard, burying weeds in the ground as soon as it detects them, with pinpoint accuracy.
The soil sensor monitors the soil so that each growing season is more efficient than the last.
Farmbot is controlled and managed via simple web-based software, so the complex programming work is already done. It incorporates a planning tool with which we can combine the most basic operations to create our own personalized work sequences.
A virtual designer allows you to define the location of each plant in the garden. And you won’t have to do anything else, Farmbot will do the rest of the work. From there, you will only have to supervise the system so that everything goes according to the established plan.
If we combine it with a solar energy production system and a rain collector, the system will be completely autonomous.
The best thing is that it is already designed and they teach you how you can do it, software, hardware, 3D models, documentation, everything is 100% open source. You are free to download it and improve it as you see fit.
In this video you can see how it works:
You can find more information about this system on farmbot.io.