Robots Take On Gardening | God's World News

Robots Take On Gardening

08/29/2017
  • 1 Robot Framing
    RoBotany's plants grow under special LED lights. (AP)
  • 2 Robot Framing
    The founders of RoBotany, an indoor, robotic farming company, sell their products at Whole Foods.
  • 3 Robot Framing
    A RoBotany-grown box of salad greens. (AP)
  • 1 Robot Framing
  • 2 Robot Framing
  • 3 Robot Framing

On the third day, God created plants. Since creation, humans have tended God’s Earth, raising crops from the ground. Now humans have used their God-given brains to invent robotic helpers down (or up!) on the farm.

An old Pittsburgh steel mill now houses an indoor, vertical farming startup. RoBotany is primarily a robotics, software, and analytics company.

Austin Webb, one of RoBotany’s co-founders, says, “We’re techies, but we have green thumbs.”

Webb and his team envision a 20,000-square-foot farm in the former mill. They see robots scaling racks up to 25 feet high and producing 2,000 pounds of food per day. That’s much larger than the 50-square-foot space RoBotany started with. Still, their first tiny indoor farm produced enough arugula and cilantro to supply a local grocery store.

RoBotany aims to make indoor, vertical farming more efficient and economical—to “deliver perfect, pure produce no matter the season or location.”

In a RoBotany farm, robots pass up and down racks moving trays of plants into different growing environments. The plants are micro-versions of leafy greens like kale and spinach and herbs like cilantro and basil. They’re grown in synthetic mesh rather than soil. The roots hang freely from the bottom of the trays.

Farmers can dispense light, nutrients, and water in exact amounts at exact times.

In this strange environment, plants grow two to three times faster than outdoors, according to Webb. They use 95% less water. Plus, they have the nutritional value and taste to rival any traditionally grown produce, the proud plant papa says.

Indoor robotic farms allow researchers to monitor plant growth and collect massive amounts of data.

RoBotany hopes to expand its crops to include other fruits and vegetables.

As Webb says, “You can’t just feed the world on lettuce.”