At Kokonaut, we produce Indoor WiFi Climate Sensors that enable Growers to Monitor the Climate in their Greenhouse on their Mobile Devices. This allows them to maintain a healthy environment for their crop to thrive and to maximize yield.
We have customers who love our product and are using it in their Farms. They range from Small Home Growers to Medium Commercial Operations. The plants they grow range from Leafy Greens, Micro Greens, Cannabis, and even Fish in Aquaponics. Each type of crop has its own quirks and a subset of passionate growers surrounding it. There’s a lot to learn from each type of plant and our Technology revolves around serving this the best way possible. Our customers constantly give us feedback and we’ve built a product roadmap that reflects this.
Our current Model is the Kokonaut Garden Lite, our Proof of Concept, that uses a development board and is assembled in-house. We are moving away from that towards our W1 Sensor which is Battery Powered (~8+ Months on two AAA cells), and has a detachable Waterproof Temperature Dongle that you can place in an Aquarium or even Freezer. This is our mass production unit, which at scale will be 1/3–1/4 the cost of the Garden Lite.
Moving past the W1, we are planning on releasing the E1 which has a Camera. Initially the Camera will provide a time lapse video for the Grower. But what we really hope is to be able to create the technology — using Machine Learning — to help the Grower analyze any issues that may show up during the plants growth cycle. Having both the W1 and E1 also helps us monitor Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD), which requires Temperature reading on the Canopy of the plant (using the E1), and Temperature and Humidity reading of the Room (using the W1). VPD essentially is a measurement of how well the plant is able to transpire moisture, it is like the lungs of the plant.
Just like Hardware and Software are the Yin and Yang of Technology. Monitoring and Automation are its equivalent in the Agricultural Space. The market is full of established players that have their foot in Large Commercial Operations. Our Sensors are simply following the Disruption Model by producing Low Cost Sensors and moving up market. To grow, we will have to eventually offer an Automated solution. We have spoken withcompanies like Honeywell, which produce the Lyric T5 Smart Thermostats, along with Nest and even Ecobee. These Thermostat Companies all offer an SDK that you can hook in to control the Temperature. Using IFTTT, it is also possible to link Smart Switches like the Belkin WeMo, or TP-Link Smart Plug to control Fans, Humidors, Lights, Irrigation Controls, etc.
The Vertical Farm
The way to become Masters of our Domain is to get our hands dirty, but we’re not using soil. Our Hydroponic Vertical Farm System is our own investigation (and experiment) on plant production using the technology we’ve created and integrated into our Platform. We will be refining this piece of technology and hopefully be able to produce Leafy Greens and Strawberries on a Small Scale.
The current system works by having a 10 Gallon Bucket with a Nutrient Rich Solution. Inside is a submerged pump that pushes water up the pipe which then flows to the individual pots that contain the plant. The water then circulates all the way down back to the bucket. Currently, we’re experimenting with Integrated T5 LED lights to compare against actual grow lights in its PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation) values. The irrigation and lights are triggered each by a Belkin WeMo Smart Plug which can even be controlled by Amazon Echo!
The Smart City
Our focus is in Agriculture, but our Technology can serve in horizontal markets as well too. We’ve had requests from the Industrial Sector to place our Sensors in their refrigeration units (eg. convenience stores, restaurants for food spoilage). We’ve also had a request from an Aquarium producer to partner with them to place our E1’s Waterproof Dongle to Monitor Water Temperature. We use the Bosch BME280 Sensor which monitors Barometric Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity. Bosch’s next generation Sensor, the BME680, also measures Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), which perfectly lends itself to monitoring the Air Quality Index in a city. One of our initiatives is to create an API for the Development of other applications that will use our Sensor. Recently, we created a Proof of Concept for the Industrial Automation Company, Festo. We were able to hook into their Robots and control their Machine with a Mobile Device. You can read up on the link below. The Industrial Automation Sector is also moving towards a connected future. We have the skills, expertise, and passion towards building this vision.
