AutoGreens

Team Twelve:eseseniordesign201920team12@gmail.com

Advisor: Dr. Jorge Santiago, santiago@seas.upenn.edu

​

Aleena Brown(CMPE)

aleena@seas.upenn.edu

Benjamin Porat(EE)

poratb@seas.upenn.edu

Jacqueline Peng(BE)

pengja@seas.upenn.edu

Melanie Hilman(BE)

mhilman@seas.upenn.edu

We are in crisis mode & food is a concern

1. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/december/data-feature-mapping-food-deserts-in-the-us/
2. https://www.k-state.edu/today/announcement/?id=8989

Food Deserts

Limited access to fresh produce

Before COVID 19 outbreak

>13.5M people in food deserts in US¹

Today amid this crisis

• Quarantine prep
• Fewer workers
• Less availability

• Spoilage
• Trust in handling

Our product serves an unmet need

Microgreens: our model

Our Aim

Stakeholders

Young vegetable greens

Highly Nutritious

Harvest in ~ 2 weeks

Small (~2in)

Grown indoors

An automated microgreen cultivation and harvesting system

• Microgreen facilities
• Restaurants
• Individuals
• Community Centers

Overview

3D printer base

Microgreen growth tray

Growth tray v1

Growth tray v2

Microgreens growth pad

Pump

Raspberry Pi

Fertilizer + Water

Hair clipper

LED growth light

Intel camera

Harvest ready!

The specifications for completion

• Correct harvest time prediction (± 1 days)
• F1 score > 0.8
• binary classifier

• Reduce harvesting time by 50%
• Manual harvest ≈ 60 sec
• Want harvest < 30 sec

Automate harvesting

Automate plant cultivation

Accurate computer vision predictions

• Camera usage
• Data privacy
• Nutrient’s biosafety
• Proximity to automatic blade

Ethical Considerations

Growth tray requirements

• 10in*12in*6in;
• 3D printer stage
• equal growth height
• Uniform seed dispersal & plant growth
• Internal environment

Blade considerations

• Safety control
• Quality control
• Cuts healthy plant stalks uniformly

• Control water input
• Humidity + temperature
• Light accessibility

Growing Tray

Purpose: proof of concept

Features:

• Hold growing seeds/plants
• Provide guide for cutting microgreens

Purpose:integrate irrigation system with growing tray

Features:

• Irrigation compartment
• Drip irrigation piping

Purpose: make the design more user-friendly and adaptable

Features:

• Sliding rows
• User-friendly seed planting
• Controllable lid to adjust humidity

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Harvesting Methodology

PLANT SEEDS

Readiness Detection

Harvesting Blade

Day 1

Day 7

Day 8

Day 15

HARVEST

Timeline

April ‘19

Sept ‘19

Oct ‘19

Nov ‘19

Dec ‘19

Jan ‘20

Feb ‘20

Mar ‘20

Team Formed

Concept formed

Gained control and could manipulate 3D printer setup

Blade and growth tray

design development

Fall Demo Day,

water distribution design

Drip irrigation

Finalized harvest blade

Finalized growth tray

C

O

V

I

D

19

Intended final product

• Combining modular framework
• Automation
• Testing

Future foresight

• More usage of sensors
• Solar panels + energy efficiency
• Scaling and professional presentation

Our competition and our novelty

• Automatic harvesting
• Smart sensing
• Scalable
• Vertical shelving with controllable trimmer
• Larger capacity for similar cost

Twelve Indoor Growing System

$200

AeroGarden

$100

Competition: Miracle Grow

Innovation

Budget

• $450 (camera, pump, lasercut, blade, etc)
• $200 (3D printer)

Projected Price

$400-$500

Thank you to our contributors!

Dr. Jorge Santiago

Advisors

ESE Senior Design Teaching Assistants

Sid Deliwala

Dr. Jan Van der Spiegel

APPENDICES

Division of Labor

Flow chart

Appendices

Demo

Engineering Standards

3D Printer

Computer Vision

Metrics of Success

High Hill Visit

Engineering Standards dictate end product

• ASTM Volume 08.04 Plastic Piping Systems
• ASTM Volume 10.03 Electrical Insulating Liquids and Gases; Electrical Protective Equipment
• ASTM Volume 11.01 and 11.02 Water (I&II)
• ASTM Volume 11.06 Environmental; Biological Effects and Environmental Fate; Industrial Biotechnology
• 12207-1996 - ISO/IEC International Standard - Information Technology - Software Life Cycle Processes
• Fairly general for ensuring the product is assembled and fulfills market, legal, and regulatory obligations
• C95.1-2019 - IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields, 0 Hz to 300 GHz

Appendices

Flow chart

Software

Hardware

Intel Realsense 3D Camera

3D Printer Control

Height Detection

Decide when to harvest

3D Printer

Drip irrigation

Sensors

(light, moisture)

Auto harvesting

Distribute nutrients/water

Internal system monitoring

blade

Appendices

Seed Distribution

Uniform seed alignment

Demonstration

Appendices

3D Printer System

• Raspberry Pi (3 Model B+)
• Ubuntu MATE operating system
• Python scripts for controlling 3D printer & GUI
• G-code to control 3D printer
• Intel RealSense SDK (Python version) to get readings from Intel camera

Intel camera (depth and RGB)

• plant harvest-readiness detection (height, color)

Raspberry Pi (3 Model B+)

3D printer

• harvesting
• storage

G Code

Appendices

Computer Vision - Harvest Detection

• Arugula microgreens recommended to be harvested after 10-15 days (in green above)
• We noticed not too much growth between 10-15 days
• Possible labels are highlighted in yellow
• “Greenish color”, “bottle green color”, “plant”, “salad greens”, “leafy vegetable”, “vegetable”, “cress”

Appendices

The Solution

An automated microgreen growing and harvesting system

• nutritious
• fast - 2 weeks
• small, indoors
• community centers, corner stores

Appendices

Progress

• Growing trials
• Set up IBM Watson image recognition

Appendices

Progress - Drip Irrigation & Growing Tray

• Design drip irrigation system
• Redesign growing tray to include drip irrigation system

Appendices

Progress - Drip Irrigation & Growing Tray

Appendices

Metrics of Success

• Reduce harvesting time to 50% of manual harvest
• Microgreens grow to equal height (+/- 1 cm) within same timeframe (+/- 1 day) (manual v.s. our device)
• Computer vision correctly predicts harvest time (+/- 2 days)
• Gain support of local microgreen provider

Appendices

Harvest-readiness Detection

Day 7

Day 8

Day 15

HARVEST

Day 1 ���plant seeds

Appendices

Harvesting blade

Appendices

High Hill Visit

Watering technique for mature microgreens

Manually record metrics

Watering technique for seeds

Coconut fiber mats with roots

Fly traps