Project Overview

The Edyn Garden Sensor is a first-of-its-kind gardening tool that can effectively communicate in real-time the factors effecting the user's garden, and provide information and tips in order to grow thriving plants. The sensor goes directly into the soil of the garden, and can read factors such as soil moisture and nutrition, air humidity, sunlight exposure, temperature, among other influences that affect the health of plants. The information gets sent directly to a corresponding app, providing users the information they need in order to best care for their garden. Additionally, Edyn comes with information on over 5,000 plants, and can provide tips as to which plants or plant pairings will grow best in the user's garden. The Edyn Garden Sensor is for novice gardeners and professional small-scale farmers alike, deepening the relationship between people and their plants.

Project Details

The foundation of Edyn was the sensor technology to read garden conditions, as well as the knowledge of soil scientist and Edyn CEO, Jason Aramburu. Through our research, we found that gardeners did not want something to do the work for them, but rather to give them the information they needed to successfully grow thriving plants. The challenge was to create a tool that could adequately gauge the conditions of the garden, both beneath the soil and above ground, and provide the information in an accessible way. Additionally, the sensor had to be visually attractive and not distract from the aesthetics of the garden. The final challenge was to make it as sustainable as possible – a fundamental attribution of the company. This is what led us to the final sensor – solar powered, with a form factor resembling that of a flower, that with sensor technology both in the stem underground and in the blossoming surface.

There is no efficient way to know all of the environmental conditions of your garden. Between the soil itself, weather conditions, and for most people, a lack of time to really care for plants, it can be difficult to manage a garden the way it needs to be maintained. Additionally, pre-existing conditions in the garden can limit the kinds of plants that can thrive there, and it would take a strong knowledge of agriculture to know the ins and outs of gardening. Overcompensation is also a factor – giving plants too much water or certain fertilizers can be just as damaging. What Edyn sets out to solve is not to do the gardening work for you, but to give you as much contextual information as possible in order to best nurture your plants. The sensor itself provides real-time information in order for the gardener to be as knowledgeable as possible in their care for the plants, and the app provides information as to which plants would thrive most, appropriate times to water or fertilize, how to avoid overexposure to sunlight, among other tips to grow the best plants and food possible in your specific garden. Edyn also provides a social aspect, showing you which plants and food are growing most effectively in the gardens closest to you. On a larger scale, Edyn can be used at community gardens or schools to help teach gardening, and grow food at larger quantities. Most importantly, it makes the gardening process more efficient, eliminating the guesswork and enabling gardeners to provide only the necessary efforts to grow their gardens to their maximum potential.

While some products exist that do the gardening work for you, this is the first product that guides users through the gardening process in a way that deepens their relationship to their plants. Edyn in many ways is greater than a home gardening tool, but also an educational tool for both novice and experienced gardeners to understand their gardens and the plants they choose to grow there. The form factor maximizes the amount of information being sent to the user, but is also meant to look beautiful in the context of the garden. The color makes it stand out among other plants, but in a way that almost makes it look like a digital flower blossoming from the ground. Adding the solar paneling to the top of the device enabled us to make it both solar powered, and to gather additional information about the environment of the garden. Most importantly, Edyn is an accessible tool for gardeners to maximize their efforts in growing plants or food. Efficiently using resources like fertilizer and water minimize the amount of waste and energy used to grow plants, helping make Edyn gardens more sustainable. The sensor even lets users know what the status of their plants should be at the time, such as whether fruits should be ripe, and uses the information provided to give even more tailored, contextual feedback.

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