Communications of the ACM
Robot Grows Plants as Well as Humans, but Uses Less Water
AlphaGarden did encounter some problems during the growing cycles and required human intervention for 14 irrigation and 24 pruning malfunctions.
Credit: Simeon Oluwafunmilore Adebola et al
Simeon Adebola at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues developed a robot gardener that can grow plants as capably as humans while saving more water.
The researchers tested six seasoned horticulturalists against an automated plot called AlphaGarden in two 60-day competitions.
AlphaGarden contained pairs of eight common edible vegetables, and formulated optimal growth strategies using a garden model and robotic pruning and watering controls.
Data from moisture sensors in the soil and a camera helped the algorithm schedule watering.
Adebola said AlphaGarden exhibited comparable performance to the horticulturalists, but used 37% and 44% less water in the two respective growth cycles.
From New Scientist
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