A pump draws water from a reservoir, to which nutrients can be added, and feeds it to a manifold of 4 valves. Each valve is associated with one of the shelves.

Each shelf is equipped with its own moisture sensor and sprinkler system. This allows for different moisture levels to be set per shelf according to the crop.

The moisture sensors give feedback to an microcontroller which, subsequently, opens the correct valve and activates the pump.

Sprinklers make sure water can exit the circuit, spreading it uniformly over the surface of soil. Optimizing the sprinkler was an iterative process and the prototype evolution can be seen from left to right.

25 unique parts were designed and 3D-printed to custom fit the components and to add stiffness to the wooden rack