Overview

TwoSprout was a capstone project developed to work with 5G technology and digital twins. Our industry partner, Rogers Communications Inc. provided the prompt for the project and worked with our group to provide feedback and direction. TwoSprout was presented to Rogers during a midterm pitch presentation and during a final prototype presentation.

Problem

Micro-farming is high-yield, sustainably-minded farming, that addresses food insecurity and environmental issues. It uses minimal space in urban areas, and it increases access to affordable and sustainable produce. In this growing market, technological solutions need to be introduced to increase efficiency and decrease the intense manual labour micro farmers experience.

Due to food insecurity and a broken supply chain, Canadians are struggling to afford fresh produce, and lack the knowledge and facilities to grow produce themselves. Micro farming offers a potential solution to these issues however, this form of agriculture still faces significant barriers. Barriers for micro-farms include intense manual labour which contributes to poor efficiency.

Proposed Solution

This solution uses sensors to monitor plant health while adding automation to the process for increased efficiency. These sensors require 5G technology to function and can work together in one ecosystem to provide proper care recommendations for plants. The digital twin can use its predictive abilities for resource management, plant growth and health, and to notify when produce is ready to be picked.

TwoSprout’s digital application used by micro-farms increases transparency, ease and efficiency thus, improving the quality of produce. Microfarms offer increased access to local produce that is more sustainable and affordable compared to supermarket prices. TwoSprout contributes to this through the efficient use of resources. Users get to monitor the optimal conditions in which plants thrive, receiving food that is ultra-nutrient and hyper-delicious.

Scope & Feasibility

The creation of a 3D micro-farm digital twin would be highly feasible due to pre-existing tech and systems that would support the design. For TwoSprout, we envision our product to be a 3D model or map of the micro-farm plot and there are a variety of options in the market to achieve this. Options include 3D rendering technology, such as Concept 3D which is an interactive 3D map software, or square footage mapping tools like the My Green Space app. SketchUp is another viable option for 3D modelling along with MapMe, that's highly customizable with bulk data. Finally, the WRLD3D platform is ideal for building dynamic, interactive 3D maps of various spaces. Many of these involve data feeding and can visualize real-time, relevant data in different ways. The presentation of real-time data, along with an interactive 3D map, is exactly what we would need to design TwoSprout.