The impacts of the resilient smart garden system are that it (1) reduces the cognitive effort and closes the technological gaps for gardeners with limited prior technological experience (2) reduces the experiential learning curve of people with affinity to technology who have little prior gardening knowledge and (3) helps to bridge between disciplines-computer science and computer engineering and environmental studies and biology.Ī few small-scale water conservation projects discuss and utilise micro-controller boards as a hardware tool with additional sensors. Specifically, the inclusion of permaculture principles differentiates the project at hand from other smart garden projects. The project connects multiple disciplines, namely computer science, computer engineering, environmental studies, biology, and permaculture. This application was implemented to improve the interoperability of apps and to facilitate the gardeners’ activities. Data stored in a local database was easily accessible via an online portal and a responsive web application. Specifically, we used a small-scale embedded board and sensors connected to a pump to control water consumption through data visualization. Adequate watering dictates the quality of the harvest, which is why we try to facilitate it by an automation that protects the user from overwatering (wasting resources) and protects the plants from drought. 566) state, “too little water will retard plant growth and reduce quality, while too much will leach fertilizers and reduce aeration”. argue that garden watering could account for up to a third of household water consumption yearly and close to 50% of total consumption in the summer. Research indicates that individuals consume more water during outdoor activities such as gardening than during indoor activities due to a lack of knowledge about water usage. Though mitigating climate change is a motivation to learn home horticulture, individuals still need to reduce their outdoor water consumption. Home horticulture is the nonprofessional cultivation of plants for recreation, personal health, cost savings, and environmental and social benefits. To become more resilient to future climate conditions, create a greener society, save money, and improve food quality, many individuals are practicing home horticulture. For example, parallels can currently be seen in California, where the occurrence of droughts and intense heat waves has increased. The mentioned effects directly and indirectly impact the: (i) environment, i.e., changes in soil fertility and the growth patterns of plants and local landscapes (ii) economy, i.e., the need for financial aid due to drought and (iii) society, i.e., increased food and water prices due to greater demand. As we are observing global effects of climate change in phenomena such as frequent flooding, droughts, and heat waves, developing these strategies is becoming urgent. He adds that, in order to achieve that, development strategies have to abandon efficiency and maximization as primary goals in favor of social equity and ecological stability. By extending such small projects, they can prepare for developing large-scale solutions for those challenges.Īccording to William Rees, “Resilience science is based on the simple premise that change is inevitable and that attempts to resist change or control it in any strict sense are doomed to failure” (p. By learning about water conservation using automation on a small scale, students develop a sense for engineering solutions regarding resource limitations early on. In this paper, we report on a prototypical implementation for multidisciplinary smart garden projects, our experiences with self-guided implementation and reflection meetings, and our lessons learned. We use a small-scale board and a number of sensors connected to a planter. We developed a smart resilient garden kit with Internet-of-Things devices that is easy to rebuild and scale. We set up a student team project that created a safe space for exploring this multidisciplinary domain. However, none of these solutions proved to be scalable nor are they easy to replicate for people at home. Previous work has attempted to develop resilient smart gardens that support the user in automated watering using simple embedded boards. In an effort to become more resilient and contribute to saving water and other resources, people become more interested in growing their own food, but do not have sufficient gardening experience and education on conserving water.
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