Solar-Powered Soil Sensor

Edyn Garden Sensor, a solar-powered stake with five sensors built into it. It works in tandem with an iOS app to provide readouts of soil conditions, fertilizing and watering tips

In the golden age of convergence, creating a compelling piece of standalone hardware is tough. If it doesn't interact with your phone, it's a non-starter. If its functionality can be replicated with an app, it's probably DOA. The price and the design need to be right, and it helps if you can stick it in places you wouldn't think about putting your phone.

Edyn's first productcould very well cover all those bases—and due to immediate plans for an expanded ecosystem of hardware, there's also plenty of room for growth.

It was last year when we first told you about theEdyn Garden Sensor, a solar-powered stake with five sensors built into it. It works in tandem with an iOS app to provide readouts of soil conditions, fertilizing and watering tips, and even suggestions for the plants most likely to thrive given your garden's conditions. Edyn's sensor began life as a Kickstarter project, but now the device is currently shipping to initial backers, and it will be available at Home Depot stores for $99 starting in May.

There are similar products on the market—both indoor- and outdoor-optimized sensors—but Edyn CEO Jason Aramburu says his device is built to the standards of serious commercial farmers. Thanks to a large database of plants and optimal growing conditions, it also does things quite a bit differently. Aramburu, who received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and spent six years in Panama and Kenya helping farmers improve their crop yields, says that the idea for Edyn was partially born out of that experience.

The current incarnation of Edyn tracks soil moisture, nutrition, temperature, humidity, and light, and its sidecar iOS app (there's an Android version coming soon) includes a database of thousands of plants to recommend what to do in various cases. The app will also offer up a selection of plants that should grow well in your soil and climate conditions based on its readings.

You don't need to actively charge it, either. Aramburu says the garden sensor charges fully with about three hours of sunlight, and indoor grow lights are also strong enough to keep its battery juiced. Once fully charged, the unit stays running for about two weeks.

The sensor itself is rated to gather readings for a 250-square-foot patch of land. The Edyn Garden Sensor requires Wi-Fi to work, which is a potential limitation for remote locations; Aramburu says the unit is rated for a 300-foot range in relation to a router, although there's been success establishing a line-of-sight connection of up to 1,500 feet.

Source: Wired

Media

Taxonomy

• Soil
• Technology
• Sensor Systems