Smart Connected Plant Pot Using Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence

In this Instructable I will show you my third electronic and IT project that I have made during my studies at the Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences (EMSI). As an IT engineer I learned on my own how to use the electronic components and how to program Arduino and ESP2866 with C language and also Raspberry Pi3 to control all those electronic components all in a wooden model that I designed and then cut with a laser cutter.

The main idea of this project is Designing an intelligent wooden plant pot that provides the plant with what it needs in terms of water, good environment and artificial lighting while having the ability to know what happen around the plant remotely in real time and continuously

Step 1: Functions of the Product

In our designed pot there is a small space

to put the plant, a water tank from which the plant can be watered and an intelligent plant management system.

This system is able to ensure the following functions:

- display, in percentage, the amount of water available in the tank

- display of the temperature and humidity of the air received from the box

- display, in percentage, the humidity of the soil in which the plant is planted

- provide artificial lighting when needed

- watering when the soil is dry

- detect the presence of the mint and signal its current state by saying if this mint plant is sick or healthy and this is thanks to a camera and an artificial intelligence program already integrated on Raspberry Pi3.

To better illustrate the concept of Internet of things there is a small portable box that has been designed. It allows to send remotely in real time and continuously the current value of air temperature, air humidity and soil moisture. In the same way this small box allows to inform us about the state of the plant thanks to the color of the led installed in the upper part:

- if the color of the led is red it means that the plant is hot.

- if the color of the led is blue it means that the plant is cold

- if the color of the led is green it means that the plant is thirsty

Step 2: Electronic Components

1- Raspeberry Pi3 B: it is a very small

computer with an ARM processor that allows the execution of several variants of the free GNU/Linux operating system, including Debian, and compatible software. This board has several models and i have used the Raspberry Pi 3 B model in this project to control the associated electronic components on the plant pot as well as to run the artificial intelligence program.

2- Esp8266 nodemcu : it is a microcontroller with a Wifi connection through which data can be sent and received remotely to Raspberry Pi3. i used this microcontroler to control the associated electronic components (Dht22 / Soil sensor / Led RGB)

3- Wires M/M F/F : Allow to conduct electricity to the desired location.

4- Resistances : are all of a value of 220ohm connected with some electronic components to prevent them from being burned.

5- Temperature sensor DHT22 : Senses the temperature degree that will be displayed automatically on the LCD display.

6- interruptor ON/OFF: Ideal for controlling the flow of electric current to all electronic components.

7- Soil sensor : is an analogical sensor designed to measure the volume of water present in the soil.

8- 5V Relay : to help the Raspberry Pi board to turn the mini water pumps on and off.

9- LM2596 DC-DC Module (Step Down) : it is an Adjustable Voltage Regulator Lowerer and thanks to which the Raspbery Pi board and the other components are powered from 19V.

10- mini water pump 12V : pump particularly suitable for the transfer of the liquid food industry like milk, edible oil, drinking water ... etc.

11- Adaptator 19V 3.4A : essential to power the entire electrical circuit of the plant pot

12- Led light bar : to generate artificial light for the plant. There are two colors of light: red and blue.

13- Weight sensor : to measure the weight of 3 kg maximum. This sensor is placed under the tank to know the current water quantity in liters.

14- Camera Pi : camera module compatible with the Raspberry Pi with which you can take photos and videos. This camera is essential to analyze the current state of the plant with the help of the artificial intelligence program

15- ldr light sensor: it detects the degree of brightness outside the house. It is thanks to this component that the outdoor leds will turn on when it is dark and turn off when it is light

16- led RGB : capable of lighting up in three types of color: red, blue and green

Step 3: Schematic and Component Assembly

A good execution of the functions already mentioned above is equivalent to a good communication system between the sensors via the Raspberry Pi3 B and Esp8266 nodemcu card, which is the case with the communication system of the intelligent pot with the small box, and which is presented as follows :

- the temperature-humidity sensor DHT22 and the soil moisture sensor send the values captured to the Esp8266 nodemcu card which then sends them to the Raspberry Pi3 B card

- the weight sensor sends to the Raspberry Pi3 B card the amount of water stored in the tank

- the LDR light sensor sends to the Raspberry Pi3 B card the degree of light that is in the surrounding area

- the pi camera takes the current image of the plant and sends it to the Raspberry Pi3 B card.

Step 4: Programming the ESP8266 and Raspberry Pi3 B

Once all the electronic components are properly connected to the ESP board, a computer program must be downloaded to ensure proper communication of the system. To create any program, we must first download the programming tool by consulting the following link: www.www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software, then write the code in C or C++ language.

The proper functioning of this system requires also a good program to run on Nodered installed on Raspberry Pi3 B

Here is the arduino code source for who want to do the same