Autogrow, a Climate Control Tool to Help Farmers
BANDUNG, LK – It's common knowledge that plants thrive with the aid of sunlight, either directly or indirectly. However, what if there was a tool that could help plants thrive without the need for sunlight, and could precisely control the climate of their growing environment?
In the future, human population and crop production will have vastly different levels of production. Because the majority of the human population lives in urban areas, adaptations are needed to meet human food consumption needs, especially considering that urban farming land is increasingly scarce and finding suitable land is difficult.
Electrical Engineering students at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have successfully developed such a device. The device, dubbed Autogrow, can promote plant growth by automatically controlling temperature, humidity, climate, and light. This device allows plants to grow indoors in limited space.
"The advantage of this tool is that it can be implemented in limited space, because the planting method uses hydroponics, which means the growing medium can be either vertical or horizontal. Furthermore, with this tool, we no longer need to rely on the sun, because we use LED lights for lighting. We also regulate the temperature inside the tool using heating and cooling devices. This tool is specifically used if we want to grow plants indoors," explained Giovani Guliano, one of the creators of the Autogrow tool.
One way to test the effectiveness of this tool is by comparing observations of plants grown in Autogrow with a specific plant growth database owned by Biology students. According to Giovani, his team used green lettuce plants for the simulation. For approximately five months, their team observed the growth of green lettuce plants against the results of a growth database typically grown in regular soil.
He and two colleagues, Noor Azizah and Pranata C. Sitepu, have conducted five planting trials. These trials showed that green lettuce grown with Autogrow had leaves measuring 5 cm wide in the first week. However, when grown normally, the leaves typically only reach 4 cm in the same week. This leaf width parameter is used because it can be used as a benchmark for plant harvest time.
To operate, the Autogrow device is connected to a laptop/computer via IoT (Internet of Things) with special software. This software allows you to set various parameters to support plant growth, such as light, temperature, humidity, pH, and so on. Because the device is connected to the IoT, it can be controlled and set remotely.
"The Autogrow device will contain a sensor that can capture the width of the plant's leaves. The software will then read this width to determine whether the plant is ready for harvest," he concluded.
The Autogrow team itself consists of Pranara P. Christian Sitepu (EL'13), Noor Azizah (EL'13), and Giovanni Guliano (EL'13). This team is guided by Ary Setijadi P And Reza Darmakusuma . Electrical Engineering Study Program and Iriawati from the Biology Study Program. The founders of the autogrow product are Ary Setijadi and his students.