Aiterrarium: Remote Control Garden

Yet another cool thing from the Land of the Rising Sun.

On October 11, Matsu#a Electric Works, Ltd. announced plans
to begin selling an indoor gardening system whose lighting,
temperature and water supply can be remotely monitored and
controlled via the Internet.
The system, called Aiterrarium, is slated for release on December
20 and will initially target research facilities for universities and
businesses.

The system consists of a growing chamber that is 50 centimeters
wide and 1.2 meters tall.
The chamber is outfitted with 190 watts of fluorescent lighting on
the walls and ceiling, and sensors measure 15 different growing
conditions, including soil temperature and moisture level.
If a heater and automatic watering system are added, users can
connect to a Matsu#a server over the Internet to set ideal
temperatures and perform watering.
A webcam allows users to monitor growing conditions from anywhere
in the world via cellphone or computer

The standard system will cost $3,000USD plus monthly server fees,
while the fully-optioned model will run $5,000USD.
The company is aiming for sales of 600 units in 2007.


SOURCE:
Pink Tentacle

Pretty cool idea.
I must say I never thought about this kind of thing.


Comments, Opinions?

That's pretty neat... hack a grow-op? Reset a Rose garden? In the same vein wineries are into wireless monitoring and have been for a couple of years here's a SlashDot link: hardware.slashdot.org.../05/22/126259&mode=thread&tid=134&tid=137&tid=193 and an Intel Wireless Winery link: www.intel.com...
I love when computing can used to do stuff you might not really expect!

Victor K.

41'