I’ve been sitting on some ideas for a few years now. I have wanted to automate my garden towers for some time. I found the project to be a bit overwhelming as an idea alongside my work at SmartRent.

As I approach my 2 year anniversary at SmartRent, I am starting to feel more confident in my abilities to problem solve and troubleshoot novel projects. I am also feeling braver about firmware, more generally speaking.

So I am proud to announce two upcoming projects!

The first will be a re-building of my garden towers with a focus on automation. I’m taking inspiration from a pre-existing product - the Gardyn - and relying on some OSS projects based around that product. A friend has one of these towers, so I should be able to poke around and learn more about it with her help.

From there, I’m going to try and create a custom automation for both of my towers. I’d love to be able to monitor pH, water level, lights, etc. So we will see how this goes.

My second project will be an electric modification and automation for my Gaggia Classic Pro. I love espresso and have wanted to get a nice machine for quite some time, however, I am limited by cost. I acquired a machine second hand and then happened upon a pre-existing project. The “Gaggiauno”.

I’ve ordered the parts and will be starting with this project. It’s a bit intimdiating as it will involve altering the electrical wiring of my machine, but I think I’m ready to tackle the challenge.

I’ll be updating this blog with my project, trials, and results!