The actual smart yard is not the 3-foot ruler with Bluetooth-it’s a gardening
system which waters intelligently based on what their plants need for their
precise conditions. And Edyn desires to make it possible.
The Edyn
horticulture system’s Kickstarter campaign finishes Tuesday after easily
throwing out by its initial objective of $100, 000, however it’s already a
working product-I saw it in action within a pleasant rooftop garden on the sunny
but wind-whipped Bay area afternoon. Founder and ground scientist Jason Aramburu
described how Edyn’s solar-powered, Wi-Fi-equipped, sensor-packed system is
designed to assist anyone grow bigger, more healthy plants, even if they’re an
entire novice in the garden.
How does your garden grow?
EDYN
Edyn's garden sensor and water valve.
Edyn’s garden sensor measures how much light, water, and fertilizer your plants are receiving, collecting this data via a long metal probe that you stick in the ground in your garden. Sensors at ground level detect the ambient temperature, light, and humidity, while sensors in the probe measure the soil’s moisture, acidity, and fertility.
The system uses Wi-Fi to send all that data up to the cloud, where it’s analyzed along with the data you entered into the Edyn app about what you’ve planted, and weather data based on your location. That lets the cloud intelligently control the other half of the system, the Edyn water valve, which has regular hose threads to connect to your water source: drip irrigation, soaker hose, or even a plain old sprinkler.
Edyn is meant to be used outdoors—both the garden sensor and the water valve are solar powered, with a lithium-polymer battery on board to store power for when the device isn’t in full sun. The two pieces are also hermetically sealed againt damage from water, dirt, fertilizer, or sun.
Edyn’s app, which will be available for iOS and Android when the program ships
in the spring associated with 2015, is designed to give customers actionable
data about their gardens-if the plants are getting scorched by the afternoon
heat, or even they need some extra food, or even if the soil isn’t depleting
properly. Aside from just suggesting what your plants need, the actual app can
even recommend the variety of plants that should thrive within your garden’s
conditions.
Here's the actual dirt
I liked Parrot’s Flower Power, a
much smaller sized gadget that you stick in to the soil in your garden and even
just in a potted home plant. It connects through Bluetooth to a smartphone
application, so your phone needs to obtain close enough to the gadget to receive
the collected information and send it towards the cloud. Flower Power’s
application can remind you to drinking water or feed your vegetation, but the
Edyn can actually drinking water for you, and you can get the most recent data
on your phone wherever you are.
If the shipping equipment is as
well-built and expensive-feeling as the working prototype I could see, and the
app as decorative and informative, I think Edyn could really grow.
