IoT Greenhouse: A Smarter Way to do Gardening

If gardening is your thing, then you must know how much time it takes to make sure your plants are in good hands. Too many factors, from temperature to humidity, need to be considered. Traditionally, it is a hobby that requires more than a hundred percent’s devotion, but now, with a simple solution created by a fellow maker, you no longer need to do as much as before to achieve what you want to accomplish. The TechDesign team comes across a brilliant combination of IoT and greenhouse that definitely looks more than ready to become the next hit product on the market.

A solution that enables smart gardening 

The Smart Greenhouse is the innovative solution that all gardening enthusiasts will be dying to ask for. Put together by Atul Bargaje, it is first displayed at Re:Invent in 2015. From the appearance, it looks not too different from your traditional greenhouse. But like all the other IoT products, the secrets lie with the technology behind it. It is equipped with sensors and actuators that are connected to two micro-controller hubs based on Intel Edison. The sensor hub gathers all information sent back from the sensors, and the actuator hub controls all actuators associated with the greenhouse. Those data will then be passed to an AWS cloud service which then transmits the data to the control center.

The control center is consisted of three components: a controller Web application, a streaming Web server, and monitoring lambda functions. The web application is responsible for controlling some parts of the greenhouse, such as opening window or activating the sprinkler. As for the streaming Web server, it is the magical messenger between the greenhouse and the owner, which updates the status of the greenhouse in real time. Owners can learn about the status through Web browsers.

If you happen to be wondering how does the greenhouse monitor and control the environment inside, it is accomplished through an IoT rules engine triggering the AWS lambda functions. What happens is the lambda functions will evaluate the current condition in the greenhouse and determine what functions need to be activated in order to maintain the environment at perfect.

How to interact with the greenhouse? 

The Smart Greenhouse system also comes with a dashboard that allows users to interact with it through an App for Android tablets or voice control. The dashboard is a Web based system that displays real-time data of the current condition inside the greenhouse. Not only can users keep track of the current condition, they can also control multiple devices in the greenhouse through the dashboard. If you prefer interact with the greenhouse through voice control, you can always pair it up with Amazon Echo to activate different devices in the greenhouse. Currently, users can vocally control the fan, vent, or lamp through the dashboard. In case you are interested in learning about details of the whole project, you can refer to their project page.

Time and time again, IoT has proved to be the leading trend for a smarter future, as it always successfully brings whatever that is integrated with it to the next level. From home automation to oil diffuser, IoT application has become a major part of our every day experience. TechDesign recognizes the significance of this trend and has been highlighting some of the less-recognized IoT products that can potentially change the way we do certain things. We will continue to share other IoT projects from time to time, so stay tuned.