Smart Sprout
SmartSprout is a smart plant pot that helps you grow a wide range of edible plants, like fruits, vegetables, and herbs, in the comfort of your home. SmartSprout’s programmable aeroponic system conserves energy, requires no soil, and uses up to 98% less water, 60% less fertilizers, and 100% less pesticides than traditional growing methods. It ensures that your plants’ needs are taken care of at all times: that way you can focus on your busy life and still be able to grow food healthily, sustainably and faster all year round.
Project Goal
The main goal of SmartSprout is to make sustainable agriculture more accessible and easy. The increase in population in recent decades has led to an increment in agricultural practices. There simply isn’t enough food to feed everyone. Additionally, traditional methods of agriculture make use of pesticides, fertilizers which are harmful to the environment, biodiversity, and humans. SmartSprout aims to promote food health, minimize water use, and lower the use of fertilizers and pesticides and thus, lower the impact that these have on the environment and on the overall health of the population.
SmartSprout is a fully automated, modular, smart pot specifically aimed at users with very busy lifestyles. It makes it possible for these users to introduce a more sustainable agricultural lifestyle, or in simpler terms, grow their own food in an easier and more efficient way, in the comfort of their home, and with as little required human labor as possible.
SmartSprout is a fully automated, modular, smart pot specifically aimed at users with very busy lifestyles. It makes it possible for these users to introduce a more sustainable agricultural lifestyle, or in simpler terms, grow their own food in an easier and more efficient way, in the comfort of their home, and with as little required human labor as possible.
Research
The whole design process was based on in-depth research on both plant growing and aeroponics systems. To answer different questions we created an online questionnaire in order to obtain additional information on what features, materials, and level of automatization people wanted to see in the pot. Additionally, we asked them about the amount of work they wanted to put into growing the plant, and some open questions about any suggestions they may have for our product. This gave us a lot of insight directly from potential users, which then allowed us to start making decisions regarding the system we would use for growing the plants, as well as decisions regarding the final prototype. In order to choose which agricultural system we would use for our pot, we carried out extensive research on the topic . We explored multiple agricultural systems including traditional methods, hydroponics, and aeroponics. From this, we concluded that the most efficient and sustainable system was aeroponics, a system that uses no sil and up to 98% less water than traditional systems.
Final Design
SmartSprout differs from already existing smart indoor gardening
products because of its aeroponic system. This system uses no soil
and instead makes use of small microjets to spray plants’ roots with a
fine, high-pressure mist that contains a nutrient solution. In this system,
roots are provided with better exposure to oxygen due to the absence
of soil, which makes harvest easier and reduces the risk of diseases
(e.g. E.Coli) and pest infestation, this results in higher quality
food produced at up to three times the rate of growth than when using
traditional methods.
products because of its aeroponic system. This system uses no soil
and instead makes use of small microjets to spray plants’ roots with a
fine, high-pressure mist that contains a nutrient solution. In this system,
roots are provided with better exposure to oxygen due to the absence
of soil, which makes harvest easier and reduces the risk of diseases
(e.g. E.Coli) and pest infestation, this results in higher quality
food produced at up to three times the rate of growth than when using
traditional methods.
After experimenting with multiple shapes, sizes, and materials, we decided to go
with a triangular-shaped pot. The main body is made out of wood. The top lid,
inside area of the pot, as well as the water canister (where the nutrient solution will
be stored) have all been 3D printed using a plastic material. This allowed us to make
the inside of the pot water resistant. The contrast in materials (wood & plastic) allowed
us to give our product a polished finish, while still keeping the organic, sustainable
appeal which is the main aesthetic we were trying to go for.
with a triangular-shaped pot. The main body is made out of wood. The top lid,
inside area of the pot, as well as the water canister (where the nutrient solution will
be stored) have all been 3D printed using a plastic material. This allowed us to make
the inside of the pot water resistant. The contrast in materials (wood & plastic) allowed
us to give our product a polished finish, while still keeping the organic, sustainable
appeal which is the main aesthetic we were trying to go for.
Prototyping
The prototyping process involved creating several low fidelity prototypes and one high fidelity one. For the final prototype, a combination of materials and tehniques were used. The main body is made out of hand crafted wood, while the interior pot and the water cannister were designed using a CAD software and, then, 3D printed usin bio-degradable PLA. The water pump, mist nozzles and vents are made out of alluminum, which offers enough strength and lightweightness. Finally, the product is powered using a Teensy 3.2 at 3.3 V.
Smart Sprout App
If desired, the users can monitor each pot via the SmartSprout app, where they can
select from a variety of crops (15 types of vegetables, 4 types of fruits, 14 types of herbs) and the system will then program itself accordingly. Additionally, the app provides information about the crop in each pot (light, temperature, water leve etc), a color chart that tells the user when it is appropriate to harvest the crops, as well as easy-to-make recipes that the user can prepare with these harvested products.
select from a variety of crops (15 types of vegetables, 4 types of fruits, 14 types of herbs) and the system will then program itself accordingly. Additionally, the app provides information about the crop in each pot (light, temperature, water leve etc), a color chart that tells the user when it is appropriate to harvest the crops, as well as easy-to-make recipes that the user can prepare with these harvested products.
Conclusion and Future Developement
Smart Sprout represents a big step towards bringing sustainable agriculture in the user's own apartament. The aeroponic system helps grow plants faster, healthier and with less resources than ever before. In the future, given the necessary time and capital, this product can be developed further to be implemented in almost any household.
This project was developed under the supervision of Bart Hengevald and Izabela Boloz.
All rights reserved (C) to Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and members of DCB100 Team 5:
Mihnea Calota
Valentina Cristancho Rodriguez
Neslihan Can
Daan de Cocq van Delwijen
Jort Cuijpers
