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Personal Food Computer: A New Device for Controlled-Environment Agriculture

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Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2018 (FTC 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 881))

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Abstract

Due to their interdisciplinary nature, devices for controlled-environment agriculture have the possibility to turn into ideal tools not only to conduct research on plant phenology but also to create curricula in a wide range of disciplines. Controlled-environment devices are increasing their functionalities as well as improving their accessibility. Traditionally, building one of these devices from scratch implies knowledge in fields such as mechanical engineering, digital electronics, programming, and energy management. However, the requirements of an effective controlled-environment device for personal use brings new constraints and challenges. This paper presents the OpenAg™ Personal Food Computer (PFC); a low cost desktop size platform, which not only targets plant phenology researchers but also hobbyists, makers, and teachers from elementary to high-school levels (K-12). The PFC is completely open-source and it is intended to become a tool that can be used for collective data sharing and plant growth analysis. Thanks to its modular design, the PFC can be used in a large spectrum of activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://openag.media.mit.edu/.

  2. 2.

    http://farmbot.io/.

  3. 3.

    http://www.aerogarden.com/.

  4. 4.

    http://www.getleaf.co/.

  5. 5.

    http://grovegrown.com.

  6. 6.

    http://www.conviron.com/products/a1000-reach-in-plant-growth-chamber.

  7. 7.

    http://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-b/.

  8. 8.

    http://goo.gl/7zfGsB.

  9. 9.

    http://wiki.openag.media.mit.edu/.

  10. 10.

    http://github.com/OpenAgInitiative/openag_pfc2.

  11. 11.

    http://github.com/OpenAgInitiative/openag_ui.

  12. 12.

    http://github.com/OpenAgInitiative/openag_brain.

  13. 13.

    http://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/open-phenome-project.

  14. 14.

    http://www.edisonawards.com/winners2016.php.

  15. 15.

    http://forum.openag.media.mit.edu.

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Acknowledgements

We thank MIT Media Lab, Target Corporation, Welspun, LKK, Google, Pentair and Partners in Food Solutions for funding the development of the PFC project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Eduardo Castelló Ferrer, Jake Rye, Gordon Brander, Tim Savas, Douglas Chambers, Hildreth England & Caleb Harper

Authors
  1. Eduardo Castelló Ferrer
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  2. Jake Rye
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  3. Gordon Brander
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  4. Tim Savas
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  5. Douglas Chambers
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  6. Hildreth England
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  7. Caleb Harper
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Castelló Ferrer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Saga University, Saga, Japan

    Kohei Arai

  2. The Science and Information (SAI) Organization, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

    Rahul Bhatia

  3. The Science and Information (SAI) Organization, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

    Supriya Kapoor

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Castelló Ferrer, E. et al. (2019). Personal Food Computer: A New Device for Controlled-Environment Agriculture. In: Arai, K., Bhatia, R., Kapoor, S. (eds) Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2018. FTC 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 881. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02683-7_79

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