All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Status: In progress. Hardware mostly designed and parts in use.
People: River
Last Update: 21 May 2022.

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
     (right now please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
     (it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace. 

-- Richard Brautigan

I, for one, welcome our fully automated luxury gay space communist farmer robots.

River is working on a plant environment controller for growing food. This started from trying to grow chillies is Scotland. The tasty chillies I have are expecting to grow up in a Brazillian rainforest and don't like the weather here, so the general idea is to trick them into thinking they are in Brazil.

The components of the system so far are:

• A plastic box. I'm using a RUB like the members' boxes. I also have a smaller one. I have insulated the small one with metal backed bubble wrap to keep it warmer and reflect light.

• LED panels. Aluminum PCBs with hyper red, far red, blue, and white LEDs on them.

• An LED driver board. Four channel constant current drivers @700mA for above panels, but can do 2A. Controllable over RS485 or I2C. Might speak DMX…

• A main controller board - the PLC, or Plant Life Controller. Intended to be mounted outside a box. It has RS485 so you know it's proper industrial plant equipment. Also CAN, because.. maybe you want to put it on your NMEA200 network? Has various switched outputs, power supplies, on board environmental sensors, and I2C connectors for in box sensors. ESP32.

• In box environmental sensors. To be designed, but will probably be a capacative / impedance based soil moisture and EC probe, combined with air humidity, temperature, and light sensors. I would like to talk to anyone who knows anything about these sensors, or generally Left-Handed metamaterials and spiral resonators.