Soil sensors that monitor plant growth

Recently, according to foreign media reports, modern people's life pressure is huge, many people will choose to keep a pot of plants to ease the mood, and most have no time or experience to care for plants, for this reason, Swiss company Koubachi has invented a sensor Koubachi WiFi plant Sensor, The use of smartphone applications to inform users of plant growth, prompting users to water, fertilize or light the plants, has undoubtedly brought the gospel to the plant-growing population.

"When you buy a plant, you get very little information," says Phillipp Bolliger, inventor of the system, Koubachi CEO Philippe Borig. In most cases, there will be a label telling the user what level of illumination the plant needs and watering every few days. But this is very sketchy and does not apply to most plants. ”

The Koubachi sensor collects data such as soil moisture, light intensity and ambient temperature, and sends data to smartphone applications. The application currently supports iOS systems.

Borig says monitoring of watering is particularly important. "The biggest problem people encounter is watering too much, which is the main reason to kill plants," he says. "By using the data collected by the sensors, users can adopt different planting methods for different plants." Koubachi's smartphone app supports more than 135 plants, including orchids, tomatoes and ETH, which are described in a study by Swiss research institute Zurich.

Borig said that even if users do not buy sensors, they can use smart phone applications to obtain different plant instructions, but if used with the sensor, the results are more accurate. "We experimented with different kinds of plants in greenhouses," he says. Some experts evaluate the vitality of plants, and then we modify the model according to expert analysis. ”

The Koubachi sensor is priced at € 100 (about 125 dollars). Borig said there was no need for users to buy a single sensor for each plant, because the sensor supports multiple plant functions and can give specific analysis in a few weeks based on the different stages of plant growth.

The development of this sensor has taken 3 years and can be used for more than 1 years without replacing the battery. "The sensor is like a stone buried under a plant," says Borig. ”

Users have been able to download Koubachi iOS apps from Apple's App Store, which offers both English and German versions, and the French and Japanese versions in the future. The sensor is currently only available at Koubachi's online store, and the company plans to expand its sales channels in the United States and Canada in the future. (Chu Yue)