6 ms·

Build a Personal Food Computer

81 points by Trisell 11y ago

swsieber 11y ago
From another page about the project: The Food Computer is a controlled-environment agriculture technology platform that uses robotic systems to control and monitor climate, energy, and plant growth inside of a specialized growing chamber. Climate variables such as carbon dioxide, air temperature, humidity, dissolved oxygen, potential hydrogen, electrical conductivity, and root-zone temperature are among the many conditions that can be controlled and monitored within the growing chamber. Operational energy, water, and mineral consumption are monitored (and adjusted) through electrical meters, flow sensors, and controllable chemical dosers throughout the growth period. Each specific set of conditions can be thought of as a climate recipe, and each recipe produces unique results in the phenotypes of the plants. Plants grown under different conditions may vary in color, size, texture growth rate, yield, flavor, and nutrient density. Food Computers can even program biotic and abiotic stresses, such as an induced drought, to create desired plant-based expressions.
- chaostheory 11y ago
  The name 'food computer' is probably better used for the computer / control portion of their system. Reading their description, 'food factory' or 'automated greenhouse' seem like better names.
Trisell 11y ago
Associated TED talk that turned me onto this project. https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_grow_your_food_in_the_future?language=en#t-881210 https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_gr...
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- ersii 11y ago
  I had a really hard time with the "Food Computer" naming before I watched Caleb Harper's TED Talk. After watching it, I get it. Unfortunate that the HN link is to the 'build page' and not to the front page, which has that TED Talk. Thanks for linking to it.
Animats 11y ago
Farmers would call this a "greenhouse". Here's one commercial greenhouse control system.[1] There are lots of greenhouse control systems. The fancier ones control water, fertilizer, temperature, humidity, oxygen content, CO2 content, lighting, etc. Some vegetables, such as lettuce, can be overclocked, with a short day/night cycle. This stuff isn't new, although the controllers are getting smaller. [1] http://www.climatecontrol.com/ http://www.climatecontrol.com/
- zzzeek 11y ago
  Are any of them built on open source software and open hardware ? I think that's part of the big idea here.
  - jmspring 11y ago
    One could, eschew software, and handle the requirements and growing manually. It's actually pretty rewarding when you have the time and space.
    - derrickdirge 11y ago
      This strikes me as a non sequitur. If I wanted to eschew software, I wouldn't be reading about building a "personal food computer."
  - chillingeffect 11y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceBuckets/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceBuckets/ A community of 20,000 DIY indoor gardeners. Subset from the SpaceBucket manifesto: Humans of the Earth! Hear the Space Buckets calling. It is time for a DIY indoor gardening revolution. We stand at the vanguard: I. Bucket culture is open. We are a community of learners, a movement of tinkerers. Our goal is to spread information about how to grow plants inside small containers with artificial lighting. Anyone can join us. II. Bucket knowledge is free. We believe in the free flow of ideas and the unparalleled power of the Internet. We are part of the web, and we contribute to it. Profit is not our motivation, innovation is. Also found these: [1] http://hmeter.sourceforge.net/ http://hmeter.sourceforge.net/ [2] https://www.3dponics.com/ https://www.3dponics.com/ ( a 10,000 person community ) [3] http://yieldbuddy.com/ http://yieldbuddy.com/ An open source automation system for hydroponics [4] http://www.powerhousehydroponics.com/crash-course-open-source-hydroponic-systems/ http://www.powerhousehydroponics.com/crash-course-open-sourc... [5] http://scienceinhydroponics.com/2013/02/the-first-free-hydroponic-nutrient-calculator-program-o.html http://scienceinhydroponics.com/2013/02/the-first-free-hydro...
dmritard96 11y ago
I am wondering how long we will continute to use plants and animals for food production. From an energy perspective, I see food as digestible bonds and I am sure there are much more efficient means of creating chemicals with these bonds that are safe. Fully synthetic foods will enable the next chocolate (in terms of experience), won't require nearly the amount of energy/land/labor to produce, won't harm plants or animals, and will be able to be ultra customized since they won't be derived from biological sources.
- erikpukinskis 11y ago
  I think in the long term many people will choose just to grow their own food, in a very conventional way, on a small scale, coached by an AI. There will probably be a bit of a fork: some foods going the way of just being 3d printed from commodity traded ingredients and sold basically at cost of ingredients, and other food that is completely made by hand by a person, in a totally unique batch. And to be honest, everything in between. Which customers will choose will depend on whether they want a food experience, or they just want some material item? Or they want a little of each.
- schiffern 11y ago
  Synthetic materials don't come from nothing. Following the supply chain backwards they're all[1] mined from somewhere, either as fossil fuels or minerals like potash and limestone. All the NPK fertilizers (which this system uses) come from mined materials. Far from "not harming plants or animals," this material extraction comes with huge (but externalized) ecological, social justice, and wealth concentration problems. And of course it's completely unsustainable. Now compare that to how healthy soil functions: microorganisms leach minerals directly from grains of sand/loam/clay, essentially manufacturing in-situ minerals into bioavailable form right at the root zone. Nitrogen fixation is similar, performed by leguminous plants using otherwise wasted sunlight and ISRU. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2H60ritjag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2H60ritjag [1] Since I know someone will bring it up, some do come from plants like soybeans. But mechanized soybean production is primarily either soil mining or (in areas with badly degraded soil) entirely supported by fossil fertilizers.
dhgood2 11y ago
Dan from OpenAG here, link to github for those interested. https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative
- Trisell 11y ago
  Dan is there anyway that we can contribute to the project? I know that you guys are working to actively move forward, yet there still might be people who are interested in contributing? Personally I'm going to go out and build a modified version of this to see if I can get it to grow a decent variety of plants for my family through the winter in my garage.
  - dhgood2 11y ago
    We are absolutely interested in contribution! We are still setting up the infrastructure but our hope is that people building our V1 system or systems inspired by the V1 will share information and advice. Additionally, if there is something about our HW or SW that you don't like, create a mod, document it and share it with the community. If you were to build your own version, it would be great if you documented the process including material dimensions, fasting techniques, different sensors or electronics, as well as successes or failures in trying to grow something. We have software that allows you to control sensors and actuators with a raspberry pi and Arduino mega. Once some or all the electronics are hooked up, the box you put it in is really up to you. Future versions will try to standardize how we attach things, but for right now my impression is that you want to get up and running ASAP. So far, the people building our V1 chat with each other in a Slack group. So we can add you to that one if/when you are ready to start building something.
huangwei_chang 11y ago
This looks interesting and might be good for the future human. However, I somehow feel it is a bit sad to make agriculture so industrialized.
- honua 11y ago
  Yes, I feel sad about it too, though most seem to respond to this that it's a good and exciting thing.. Reading One Straw Revolution is the best way I can explain the feeling.
- schiffern 11y ago
  Just what I wanted to see rural America displaced by -- dusty shipping containers stretching to the horizon, each with PV on top and a Monsanto logo on the side... Don't worry though. This fills a niche similar to current-gen 3D printers: extremely useful for rapid R&D, but despite the hype simply too expensive and energy-intensive to undercut conventional production on a mass scale.
- sp332 11y ago
  What do you mean? Compared to how it is now?
- derrickdirge 11y ago
  I somehow feel it is a bit sad to make hunting and gathering so industrialized with all of this "agriculture" you're talking about.
- joshvm 11y ago
  This is how carrots are harvested: https://imgur.com/gallery/AP4x35k https://imgur.com/gallery/AP4x35k You know those cute pictures of people picking fruit on your orange juice bottle? Nope, this is how we get oranges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av17eM1Ruyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av17eM1Ruyo Of course a lot of farming is simply done by mass labour, which works if a little inefficient. On the high tech side we have GPS-controlled tractors and farmers can order up hyperpsectral images of their fields to check crop performance. Modern agriculture is extremely heavily industrialised to satisfy the demands of the billions of hungry people around the world.
goda90 11y ago
Something I would like to see are systems for identifying plants and handling them automatically. Eventually combine this with versatile robots that pluck harmful plants, harvest exactly when ready and maybe even attack harmful insects and you might be able to replace chemicals and back busting manual labor. Farms can become food prairies where tons of beneficial plants grow mixed together, mutually strengthened against weather and disease with robots tending and harvesting throughout the year.
- hanniabu 11y ago
  After working in the hydroponic and aquaponic industry for 3 years, I can say that automation for removal of bad plants is the last key needed to create fully autonomous farms. The margins in farming aren't that high and the labor for harvesting(already solved by robotics) and separating the good from the bad plants are the most time consuming and costly tasks. Having that automated would allow you to have just one or two technicians on hand in a farm rather than a handful of technicians, a lot of laborers, and a manager. Edit: by technicians I mean farm technicians, the people that have a background in plant ecology or are botanists
okket 11y ago
Now combine this with aquaponics... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

81 points by Trisell 11y ago

From another page about the project: The Food Computer is a controlled-environment agriculture technology platform that uses robotic systems to control and monitor climate, energy, and plant growth inside of a specialized growing chamber. Climate variables such as carbon dioxide, air temperature, humidity, dissolved oxygen, potential hydrogen, electrical conductivity, and root-zone temperature are among the many conditions that can be controlled and monitored within the growing chamber. Operational energy, water, and mineral consumption are monitored (and adjusted) through electrical meters, flow sensors, and controllable chemical dosers throughout the growth period. Each specific set of conditions can be thought of as a climate recipe, and each recipe produces unique results in the phenotypes of the plants. Plants grown under different conditions may vary in color, size, texture growth rate, yield, flavor, and nutrient density. Food Computers can even program biotic and abiotic stresses, such as an induced drought, to create desired plant-based expressions.

chaostheory 11y ago
The name 'food computer' is probably better used for the computer / control portion of their system. Reading their description, 'food factory' or 'automated greenhouse' seem like better names.

Trisell 11y ago

Associated TED talk that turned me onto this project. https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_grow_your_food_in_the_future?language=en#t-881210 https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_gr...

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
ersii 11y ago
I had a really hard time with the "Food Computer" naming before I watched Caleb Harper's TED Talk. After watching it, I get it. Unfortunate that the HN link is to the 'build page' and not to the front page, which has that TED Talk. Thanks for linking to it.

Animats 11y ago

Farmers would call this a "greenhouse". Here's one commercial greenhouse control system.[1] There are lots of greenhouse control systems. The fancier ones control water, fertilizer, temperature, humidity, oxygen content, CO2 content, lighting, etc. Some vegetables, such as lettuce, can be overclocked, with a short day/night cycle. This stuff isn't new, although the controllers are getting smaller. [1] http://www.climatecontrol.com/ http://www.climatecontrol.com/

zzzeek 11y ago
Are any of them built on open source software and open hardware ? I think that's part of the big idea here.
- jmspring 11y ago
  One could, eschew software, and handle the requirements and growing manually. It's actually pretty rewarding when you have the time and space.
  - derrickdirge 11y ago
    This strikes me as a non sequitur. If I wanted to eschew software, I wouldn't be reading about building a "personal food computer."
- chillingeffect 11y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceBuckets/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceBuckets/ A community of 20,000 DIY indoor gardeners. Subset from the SpaceBucket manifesto: Humans of the Earth! Hear the Space Buckets calling. It is time for a DIY indoor gardening revolution. We stand at the vanguard: I. Bucket culture is open. We are a community of learners, a movement of tinkerers. Our goal is to spread information about how to grow plants inside small containers with artificial lighting. Anyone can join us. II. Bucket knowledge is free. We believe in the free flow of ideas and the unparalleled power of the Internet. We are part of the web, and we contribute to it. Profit is not our motivation, innovation is. Also found these: [1] http://hmeter.sourceforge.net/ http://hmeter.sourceforge.net/ [2] https://www.3dponics.com/ https://www.3dponics.com/ ( a 10,000 person community ) [3] http://yieldbuddy.com/ http://yieldbuddy.com/ An open source automation system for hydroponics [4] http://www.powerhousehydroponics.com/crash-course-open-source-hydroponic-systems/ http://www.powerhousehydroponics.com/crash-course-open-sourc... [5] http://scienceinhydroponics.com/2013/02/the-first-free-hydroponic-nutrient-calculator-program-o.html http://scienceinhydroponics.com/2013/02/the-first-free-hydro...

dmritard96 11y ago

I am wondering how long we will continute to use plants and animals for food production. From an energy perspective, I see food as digestible bonds and I am sure there are much more efficient means of creating chemicals with these bonds that are safe. Fully synthetic foods will enable the next chocolate (in terms of experience), won't require nearly the amount of energy/land/labor to produce, won't harm plants or animals, and will be able to be ultra customized since they won't be derived from biological sources.

erikpukinskis 11y ago
I think in the long term many people will choose just to grow their own food, in a very conventional way, on a small scale, coached by an AI. There will probably be a bit of a fork: some foods going the way of just being 3d printed from commodity traded ingredients and sold basically at cost of ingredients, and other food that is completely made by hand by a person, in a totally unique batch. And to be honest, everything in between. Which customers will choose will depend on whether they want a food experience, or they just want some material item? Or they want a little of each.
schiffern 11y ago
Synthetic materials don't come from nothing. Following the supply chain backwards they're all[1] mined from somewhere, either as fossil fuels or minerals like potash and limestone. All the NPK fertilizers (which this system uses) come from mined materials. Far from "not harming plants or animals," this material extraction comes with huge (but externalized) ecological, social justice, and wealth concentration problems. And of course it's completely unsustainable. Now compare that to how healthy soil functions: microorganisms leach minerals directly from grains of sand/loam/clay, essentially manufacturing in-situ minerals into bioavailable form right at the root zone. Nitrogen fixation is similar, performed by leguminous plants using otherwise wasted sunlight and ISRU. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2H60ritjag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2H60ritjag [1] Since I know someone will bring it up, some do come from plants like soybeans. But mechanized soybean production is primarily either soil mining or (in areas with badly degraded soil) entirely supported by fossil fertilizers.

dhgood2 11y ago

Dan from OpenAG here, link to github for those interested. https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative https://github.com/OpenAgInitiative

Trisell 11y ago
Dan is there anyway that we can contribute to the project? I know that you guys are working to actively move forward, yet there still might be people who are interested in contributing? Personally I'm going to go out and build a modified version of this to see if I can get it to grow a decent variety of plants for my family through the winter in my garage.
- dhgood2 11y ago
  We are absolutely interested in contribution! We are still setting up the infrastructure but our hope is that people building our V1 system or systems inspired by the V1 will share information and advice. Additionally, if there is something about our HW or SW that you don't like, create a mod, document it and share it with the community. If you were to build your own version, it would be great if you documented the process including material dimensions, fasting techniques, different sensors or electronics, as well as successes or failures in trying to grow something. We have software that allows you to control sensors and actuators with a raspberry pi and Arduino mega. Once some or all the electronics are hooked up, the box you put it in is really up to you. Future versions will try to standardize how we attach things, but for right now my impression is that you want to get up and running ASAP. So far, the people building our V1 chat with each other in a Slack group. So we can add you to that one if/when you are ready to start building something.

huangwei_chang 11y ago

This looks interesting and might be good for the future human. However, I somehow feel it is a bit sad to make agriculture so industrialized.

honua 11y ago
Yes, I feel sad about it too, though most seem to respond to this that it's a good and exciting thing.. Reading One Straw Revolution is the best way I can explain the feeling.
schiffern 11y ago
Just what I wanted to see rural America displaced by -- dusty shipping containers stretching to the horizon, each with PV on top and a Monsanto logo on the side... Don't worry though. This fills a niche similar to current-gen 3D printers: extremely useful for rapid R&D, but despite the hype simply too expensive and energy-intensive to undercut conventional production on a mass scale.
sp332 11y ago
What do you mean? Compared to how it is now?
derrickdirge 11y ago
I somehow feel it is a bit sad to make hunting and gathering so industrialized with all of this "agriculture" you're talking about.
joshvm 11y ago
This is how carrots are harvested: https://imgur.com/gallery/AP4x35k https://imgur.com/gallery/AP4x35k You know those cute pictures of people picking fruit on your orange juice bottle? Nope, this is how we get oranges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av17eM1Ruyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av17eM1Ruyo Of course a lot of farming is simply done by mass labour, which works if a little inefficient. On the high tech side we have GPS-controlled tractors and farmers can order up hyperpsectral images of their fields to check crop performance. Modern agriculture is extremely heavily industrialised to satisfy the demands of the billions of hungry people around the world.

goda90 11y ago

Something I would like to see are systems for identifying plants and handling them automatically. Eventually combine this with versatile robots that pluck harmful plants, harvest exactly when ready and maybe even attack harmful insects and you might be able to replace chemicals and back busting manual labor. Farms can become food prairies where tons of beneficial plants grow mixed together, mutually strengthened against weather and disease with robots tending and harvesting throughout the year.

hanniabu 11y ago
After working in the hydroponic and aquaponic industry for 3 years, I can say that automation for removal of bad plants is the last key needed to create fully autonomous farms. The margins in farming aren't that high and the labor for harvesting(already solved by robotics) and separating the good from the bad plants are the most time consuming and costly tasks. Having that automated would allow you to have just one or two technicians on hand in a farm rather than a handful of technicians, a lot of laborers, and a manager. Edit: by technicians I mean farm technicians, the people that have a background in plant ecology or are botanists

okket 11y ago

Now combine this with aquaponics... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics