Purpose Results

Create an indoor hydroponic system that Successes:

uses similar systems to let plants learn Created server infrastructure to control
how to grow best.
Weekly hardware systems
Built hardware that successfully
Objectives manages plants
Implemented gradient ascent
System should be self contained Create Postgres database
as a proof of concept learner
and simple for end user and start a new experiment
Stumblings:
Our prototype should be
highly quantitative and Transplant plants into pots Unreliable metrics for
easy to analyze, even at with rockwool and discard soil measuring plant health
cost of ease of use Change nutrient solution Need more plants to
properly run learning
algorithm

Once Daily

Seed: An Intelligent Run Algorithm:

x4
y4
y3

Hydroponic System
x3
y2
x2
y1
x1

control

Measure Plant Health:

Hardware
Arduino based, web con-
nected architecture. AC
power controlled via relays
and manages water pumps, air
pump, and full spectrum lamp.
Arduino To Internet
Any Time
Monitor Performance:
JSON Object
Web based monitoring
We scan a leaf on each plant,
average the pixel wave-
Request
lengths, and take the in- Software
verse for our metric. Microcontroller queries
Parameters:
server for updates, server
maintains parameters and
runs algorithm.
Plant 1 Nutrient Pump Every
Plant 2 Nutrient Pump
Plant 3 Nutrient Pump 10 Sec. Plant Plant Plant
Plant 4 Nutrient Pump
CFL Light

Internet
Server
Nutrient CFL Lamp Air Pump Web Front Postgres Gradient
Pumps Descent
End Database
Algorithm
AC Power Nate Harada Sam Zeckendorf John Pothier