Accept and Give - Free and opensource automated hydroponics.

Hello GrowBotters,

There has been a lot of activity here in GrowBot Central. I am learning more and more each day about the GrowBot; what changes and features have been successful and which ones have not. All this knowledge is being used to upgrade the existing GrowBots and to guide development of the next generation of GrowBots.

Over the last 7 or 8 weeks the North Shore of Kauai has had far more clouds and rain than it has had sunshine. GrowBot's solar powered system was designed and tested in more sun. Hence, GrowBot is getting a major upgrade - a brainstem.  This 'BrainStem' mimics how our own brainstems work to keep us breathing, digesting, etc. even while we sleep. The new board will be designed to help keep your GrowBot running even in very poor sunlight. Below is a picture produced by one of my engineers, featuring the new 'BrainStem'.

I also have new custom made solar cells, cells that are specifically designed to run well on cloudy days. 

GrowBot is the world's first and only solar powered gardening robot. It is also one of just a handful of devices that is part of the new technology movement called the Internet Of Things.

Thank you for being an early adopter.

As I intended, and as a way of saying thanks, we will be upgrading all of you. Those of you who are my early adopters will get these upgrades when they become available.

Finally, a word on upgrading the support.  I often have enough data to predict interruptions with growth several days before it will likely happen. I will start sharing that data with you starting July 1st. The overall intention of this support upgrade is to allow us to fix GrowBots before growth is affected.

James