Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
(Source: Images CC-BY-SA Open Source Ecology)
Figure 10.4
(a) Hydraulic plans. (b) Power detail. (c) Parts build.
Urban Farming
bottles and accessible plumbing supplies that delivers liquid nutrients to plant roots. The
kit allows for year-round growing of plants in the window of any house or apartment, and
the plants thrive on natural light from the sun coming into the window.
Along with a store for purchasing Windowfarms and an online wiki detailing how to
build, set up, and maintain Windowfarms, a centralized social media community sharing
farms community has grown to more than 42,000 users worldwide who have contributed
to the online forum about modifications to the technology. This crowd-sourced develop-
ment has facilitated rapid technology advancement to the point where it is today inexpens-
ive and effective.
Household Plant-Monitoring Systems
ler. It facilitates communications between humans and their houseplants, by monitoring the
moisture level of the plant and communicating to its owner via Twitter when it needs wa-
ter. The plant (through the sensor) also thanks the owner when it has been watered. This
collaborative DIY project was facilitated by students at the School of Visual Arts and the
Tisch School of the Arts Interactive Communication Program at NYU.
Because Botanicalls is
open source and hackable, it is easy to modify the hardware and the software to do things like integrate Wi-Fi connectiv-
ity or change the Twitter messages. This gives control to the consumers and users to modify and repurpose the platform
to fit different use-case scenarios. There is an online forum
11
where people ask questions or share ideas
about Botanicalls.
