The Smart Spirulina System is a bio-informatics message system incorporated into the Urban Farm Pod. The objective of this project is a system design that will show how to grow Spirulina in an urban farm setting. The system design is broken out into two areas: A grow system for the cultivation of large amounts of Spirulina and a distribution system to allocate to Spirulina bottles on the surface of the sphere.
A digital monitoring platform that can relay specific information about the health and growing conditions of the Spirulina directly to a user’s smart- phone or desktop and integrate into the Internet of Plants by providing a public and free API.
The Spirulina is a cyanobacterium that can be consumed by humans and other animals. It has densely packed nutrients; protein makes over 60% of the dry body weight and it has all 9 essential amino acids that a human body needs. In addition, the ripe product has 10 times more calcium than milk with -B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B9 vitamins, Beta-carotene, Zeaxanthin, Lutein, and Xanthophylls Antioxidants
With optimal conditions the Spirulina can double every 24-48 hours. It has a photosynthetic conversion rate of 8 to 10%, compared to only 3% in crop plants such as soybeans. It is considered as one of the fastest reproduced protein sources in the world.
A Global Network can link up  Urban Farm Pods around the world providing open and free access to databases via a REST API that will allow users to monitor and track plant data from all regions of the world. Further frontend design will include an iOS roll-out to allow users to receive alerts via their mobile devices.

HARDWARE: Arduino Uno, Wifi Shield, pH Sensor, RGB Sensor, Temperature Sensor, Humidity Sensor.

SOFTWARE: Front-end → Javascript, three.js | Back-end → node.js

Credits: PI, Maria Aiolova
Team: Christian Hubert, Vivian Kuan, Mitchell Joachim, Amanda O'Keefe.
Research Fellows: Regina Flores Mir, Jimmy Tang.
Consultants: Huy Buy, Greyshed.