Ready, Set, Grow

Aug. 23, 2016

Recipe management and automated monitoring grow safe, organic food and medicine in your home.

Ever wonder what is actually in your food? Between pesticides on plants and hormones and antibiotics in meat, who knows what’s coursing through our bodies after we take a bite.

In an effort to take back control of what we consume, a team of techies, horticultural scientists and manufacturing experts designed a self-contained home growing system that empowers people to control what they eat. Called Grobo, the aluminum alloy cabinet includes Wi-Fi, sensors to control internal and exterior temperature and humidity, and LED lighting that provides the colors and intensities to grow the plants faster.

Simply plant your favorite seeds—from vegetables to medical marijuana—and add the supplied nutrient capsules. Using your smartphone, you can access growing recipes from Grobo’s library and track plant growth and the environmental settings. Oh, and don’t worry about getting a whiff of any organic odors, as a carbon filter wipes that away.

Grobo automatically adjusts the growing environment to ensure it has enough water, lights, temperature and nutrients it needs to thrive. Simple. So, ready to grow your own? Great! But you’ll have to wait until April 2017 when the system will ship.

About the Author

Stephanie Neil | Editor-in-Chief, OEM Magazine

Stephanie Neil has been reporting on business and technology for over 25 years and was named Editor-in-Chief of OEM magazine in 2018. She began her journalism career as a beat reporter for eWeek, a technology newspaper, later joining Managing Automation, a monthly B2B manufacturing magazine, as senior editor. During that time, Neil was also a correspondent for The Boston Globe, covering local news. She joined PMMI Media Group in 2015 as a senior editor for Automation World and continues to write for both AW and OEM, covering manufacturing news, technology trends, and workforce issues.

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