Aquarius is a robot at the cutting edge of greenhouse technology that dependably waters your plants accurately and efficiently using its on-board 30 gallon tank and custom technology. It was developed for the agriculture research and development industry, where it’s critical that each plant is given exactly the right amount of water, but it can just as easily be used in commercial greenhouses. The true strength of Aquarius is in its simplicity of operation: there’s only one switch, everything else is automatic. 

To operate the robot you just mark the path you want the robot to follow, set the maximum amount of water you would want it to give a completely dry plant and let it go. Aquarius may be used to measure the soil moisture in each plant and give it just the right amount of water or it may be used to give the same amount of water to each plant based on a “sentry” plant of that cohort. Everything may be changed at any time, even while the robot is running, including changing the path or adding and removing plants.

Aquarius uses a Propeller chip for the main controller that simultaneously monitors all of the sensors and communicates with a Propeller Servo Controller that’s responsible for several low-level functions. The sensors that the main controller monitors include two US Digital optical encoder for monitoring and adjusting the wheel motors, a custom 12-sensor array for the line tracking, two moisture sensors, two water level sensors in the tank, collision avoidance sensors, and a couple of others for automatic calibrations. All of this allows the roughly 500 lb. robot to smoothly and safely navigate the greenhouse room at a constant speed, even while going up and down floor ridges and making sharp turns.

More information at: http://www.dorhoutrd.com/aquarius_robot
David Dorhout