Miniature Greenhouse for Precision Agriculture

About the Project

Project Description

In cooperation with the Plant Science Institute, our project aims to enable testing and controlling plant growth under different conditions with relative ease.

The main goal of this project is to create a system that will follow a plant’s development. This system will also allow for testing different variables such as temperature, light intensity, soil moisture, soil nutrient content, and CO2 levels. An automatic robotic imaging system will be used to capture plant growth, and watering of the plants will be controlled by a water pump system in conjunction with a soil moisture sensor.

The end vision is to have a series of growth chambers enabling for complete control of their individual environments while being managed by an independent robotic imaging system.


Project Goals

  • Create growth chamber that will keep plant’s conditions constant and allow access to view the plant inside when necessary
  • Make use of a robotic arm to take images of plant growth
  • Implement and expand the water pump system created by the previous senior design group from 16 pumps to 32 for water irrigation
  • Create both a separate heating and cooling system that will enable adjustable temperature inside the growth chambers
  • Use LEDs as a light system inside of the growth chamber that will allow for adjustable light intensity


    • Project Components

    This system is broken into different component that are complex on their own. In order to be able to understand and complete the goals we set for this project, we planned to work on each component individually. Then, after all successfully work on their own, we will compile them into the desired system. Components are as follow:

  • Automated Water Pump System: The new system deviates from Internet dependency and runs individually with Arduino code. 32 pumps are lined up diagonally (16 on each side) connected to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), controlled by an Arduino Uno. Within the PCB, there are two multiplexers and two decoders in charge of enabling watering from pumps.

  • Robotic Imaging System: This segment is programmed to take images of plants inside the growth chambers at a given time. These images will be taken using a camera with a gripper attachment. Then, images will be uploaded for future use.

  • LED Lighting System: The lighting system for each growth chamber will have a microcontroller to manage and display different levels of intensity as the environment needs it. High powered LED strips containing red and blue wavelengths will be used.

  • Environmental Growth Chamber: Small greenhouses are built to test different conditions of plant development. The chambers need to be able to fit a wide variety of plants, such as corn. For the purpose of our project, we will be testing one heating chamber and one cooling chamber with all other components.

  • Heating and Cooling System: The system that controls the temperature inside each individual growth chamber must feature a heating or cooling system and must keep the temperature uniform throughout the inside of it.

  • Small Growth Chamber: This small growth chamber contains an internal cooling system at the top of the chamber. The system uses 4 TEC slabs powered from Power Modules, all managed by two Arduinos. When a voltage is applied to a TEC, it heats up on one side, and cools down on the other. There is a plant holder servo controlled from the same system that allows the user to control the position of the plants from the use of an Android device. It turns from 0 degrees to 90 degrees to give the user the side and top view of the plants inside of the chamber.

    Project Components Images

    As we stated above, our project consists of various component that together device the miniature system.