In 2014, Rory Aronson launched FarmBot, a farming robot built on open-source principles.

It
wasn’t long before they were noticed by NASA engineers, interested in farm testing under
the most extreme circumstances: "The Kennedy Space Center got one of our very first units
so they have it in one of their labs and what they're looking at is how can this type of
technology be combined with a smart greenhouse and other environmental control systems to
be able to grow food in space, on the moon, Mars and who knows where else NASA wants to
go." * WATCH our first video with Rory Aronson on FarmBot from 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqYrA... But extreme farming (as a possible
"terraforming" beginning in other planets) isn't only a matter of interest to space agencies and
companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin, but a testing field for precision farming on Earth,
especially when water and/or nutrients need to be rationed to their bare minimum necessary
to maximize yield. Heatwave and drought conditions demand optimization of irrigation
and/or pest control at a big scale. Interestingly, this adaptation of precision farming for
changing conditions on Earth has arisen the interest of NASA. Also, technology developed
for its use in space has also improved designs on Earth, from velcro to dustbusters, cochlear
implants, and other spinoffs. A few years later, NASA engineers invited Aronson and his
core FarmBot team to the Kennedy Space Center to brainstorm innovative open-source
approaches to food production. The FarmBot Genesis v1.2 continues to inspire NASA
scientists as they design the systems that will ultimately grow food off-world. Back at
FarmBot headquarters in San Luis Obispo, California, the startup has grown out of Rory’s
house into a warehouse where they ship their consumer smart farm kits worldwide. They’ve
also grown their largest FarmBot to date, the 18-meter-long (60 foot) MAX tailored at “small
commercial farming, cutting edge research, and gardening on a massive scale”. While the
MAX didn’t sell as they’d hoped, their Express model is one of their most successful and it’s
tailored at the non-geeks: just two hours of set-up time (as opposed to the 40 hours for their
original model). Aronson’s goal with this simple Internet-connected setup is to provide non-
techies, and non-farmers, with an automated garden that feels like a home appliance. It seeds,
waters, weeds and eventually will tell you when your vegetables are ready to pick with a
message to your phone and even throw in a suggested recipe. The FarmBot technology is all
open-source and Aronson and team have been very successful at cultivating techies all over
the world who have contributed to making the product better by tinkering with items like
watering devices or off-grid energy supply stations. It’s the strength of this collaborative
community that NASA hopes to draw upon to find solutions for off-world farming.
https://farm.bot/

FarmBot on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FarmBot

NASA spinoff technologies on everyday use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_sp...

On *faircompanies: https://faircompanies.com/videos/nasa...

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