Mandy’s Farm is a wonderful organization here in Albuquerque that assists individuals with developmental disabilities in achieving their goals for living, learning, and working in the community.
Through their AgrAbility program, apprentices complete a year-long program designed to prepare them to work on an existing farm or start a micro-business of their own. Apprentices obtain hands-on and classroom-based training in growing vegetables, cultivating fruit, caring for small livestock, and much more. Following the completion of their apprenticeship, disabled farmers have the opportunity to incubate their own farming business within Mandy’s Farm.
Students from Central New Mexico Community College's Internet of Things program are assisting Mandy's Farm in creating a Smart Greenhouse.
This project aimed to incorporate IoT - smart connected devices to monitor and automate some of the regular greenhouse operations. We have 4 zones controlled by 4 relays and 4 solenoid valves. We installed soil moisture sensors in each zone to monitor and automate the plant watering cycle.
Furthermore, we've prototyped an enclosure with 4 buttons. The mode button provides the option of watering by soil moisture or by a timer. The 2nd and 3rd button increment and decrement the timer. lastly the 4th button toggles the solenoid open and closed. A huge goal of this project is to design it so that it'll best serve its users. the first iteration includes 4 buttons, although I'm sure this will change as we get feedback from the folks using the system.
We'll be tracking Soil Moisture, waterflow rate, temperature, and humidity. This project is taking place at Mandy's Farms in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Comments