Katie Blodorn is keeping copious notes on who is volunteering, building, and moving this project along. So far, we have students, faculty, & staff from across the university pitching in. I contacted other faculty to see if other faculty and students would be interested in helping. Chris & Sara gathered others in the community and CSU to support the concept. Tim worked with his team to construct and assemble the FarmBot. Katie ordered the FarmBot with the recreation center's budget and coordinated the operations. Everyone had a part in making this happen, but Katie and Tim are keeping the logistics intact. The CSU grounds team supported the idea and described what it would take to make it a reality. We asked what would be the logistics that we would need to make this possible. To make a long story short, Katie had a budget to order the FarmBot, so we discussed the idea with Tim Square, the superintendent of Grounds at CSU. Katie Blodorn contacted me, and I shared some ideas Sara and Chris mentioned. Emily said that Katie should contact me since I have been advocating for gardening on campus since Julka Hall was built in 2010 (in fact, a whole medicinal herb garden and square-foot gardening outside of the Health Science building were in the original blueprints). She talked to Emily Kullman, one of my colleagues and a faculty member in Exercise Science, about gardening. Meanwhile, Katie Blodorn (far left) was working on promoting the “Shine Well” program. Chris, Sara, and I also met with Dean Anglin to get ideas for planning. She came to campus, and we walked around visiting the FoodBank, Lift Up Vikes (LUV!), and looking at possible spaces on campus where we could propose how to start advocating for spaces or collaborating with others. She started Food Strong and has worked with many schools and communities setting up gardens. To revive the gardening concept on campus, I contacted Sara Continenza, a CSU alumnus and an amazing community organizer. Chris is also up on all the available new features and gadgets and showed me the link to the FarmBot. We talked about how it would be amazing to have gardening opportunities at CSU. so we periodically have had conversations about gardening for many years when we see each other on campus. He is an avid blueberry farmer, and I became a master gardener in 2010. The initial idea of the FarmBot came from a conversation Chris Rennison and I had after a meeting earlier this year. It also was a case of many coincidences and being at the right place and time. It is a classic story of like-minded people working together to make something happen. Judy Ausherman : The FarmBot has really been a team effort. According to Ausherman, it was nothing short of a miracle.Ĭleveland State University: How did the idea for this come about? She discussed the potential impact FarmBot could have on campus and how the program came together. Judy Ausherman (left) is Associate Professor of Health Education at CSU and has been hands-on in the process of bringing FarmBot to life (so to speak) on campus. It’s not a stretch to see a future where autonomous drones equipped with sensors are used for crop surveillance, detecting diseases, optimizing irrigation and more-all programmed with algorithms to handle everything from seeding to weeding, reducing the need for pesticides in the process.īut we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Machine learning will ultimately give farmers the ability to make more informed decisions in maximizing crop yields and protecting them from weather pattern challenges. Robotic technologies are already streamlining agriculture-from crop planting, to harvesting and maintenance. The agriculture industry is experiencing a remarkable revolution through the integration of technology like FarmBot (specifically robotics) which is paving the way for advances in efficiency, sustainability and productivity. FarmBot aims to “create an open and accessible technology aiding everyone to grow food and to grow food for everyone.”īy utilizing the FarmBot app, movement commands can be accessed, you can see your crop in an instant, turn the lights on for a nighttime harvest and even water your plants, from anywhere in the world. It is controlled by a robotic farming machine and corresponding software. The newly installed FarmBot, located on the CSU Recreation Center’s green roof, is much like a regular garden you might see, but looks are deceiving. It has the potential to be a major game changer on campus-and beyond. CSU on the Cutting Edge of Technology: New FarmBot has endless possibilities when it comes to cultivating a healthy livingĬleveland State University recently unveiled a one-of-a-kind garden that can be controlled from anywhere in the world via an app.
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