[VicPiMakers SG] fb inquiry

[codyg at lovi.ca]

Here is a new inquiry from Steve White on our FB page. Anyone have a 
response?

... Hi again, thanks for the link the website has some great info on it. 
Especially the courses and info on self flying drones as im quite 
interested in that topic. The project I'm working on now is a small self 
contained multi-level vertical farm for restaurants, care homes, etc. 
Having something that grows a small variety of herbs and vegetables 
onsite would help users reduce rising food costs, reduce nutrient loss 
though transport and storage times, and the environment as its grown 
onsite so theres no shipping or packaging. The nutrient dosing, 
lighting, etc, will be controlled by a couple Arduino's or Raspberry 
Pi's. It's been going well so far, but I've been having some issues 
trying to find a multimodal sensor for within the rock wool growing 
medium that will measure the pH, EC, and temperature and send that data 
back to the computers so they can make adjustments. The few I found 
online come with unnecessary 'value-added extras' and fancy casings all 
of which are extremely expensive and you can't just get the tiny sensor 
portion. The device can't cost more than the value of the produce it 
creates right, so keeping quality high while costs down has been a 
challenge, and there needs to be 8 of these multimodal sensors per unit.
So I don't know if you know anyone that's into automated vertical 
farming that might know something about collecting data from the plants. 
Or even someone who knows about sensor fabrication as that might be the 
route I have to go down. I'd be happy to give you any more information 
if you need it.

Cody