Friday, January 2, 2015

What's in Store for 2015?

It was only in October when we made our first small concrete planter.
January 3, 2015 We finished last year off very strong. Lots of projects that had been crawling along had finally been finished including our aquaponics system and our revisiting Arduino. We've also crossed 3D printing off our list of things to do and it is now on our list of things we will be continuously doing.

It was just over the past few months that several makerspaces have opened in Bangkok making all of this possible. So what will a full year of access to these spaces bring?

The Arduino-driven 3D printed fish feeder was just the first, small project of an entire concept called CityFarmBKK. We want to basically make a Farmville you can manage with minimal effort at home, and also connect with and monitor with your mobile device. Instead of sending your friends a virtual basket of vegetables or products from your virtual farm, how about sending them real gifts from a real urban farm?

We also plan on tackling biogas production, but to power homes rurally, and as part of an urban, automated bioreactor system. Our first attempt was a bit disappointing so later this month we will be taking a field trip to a village powered by biogas to see how it is really done.

We're finally 3D printing!
There is also the atmospheric water generator which produces water by condensing it out of thin air. It is basically your own personal rain cloud. The water vapor is air filtered, then filtered again through more traditional water filtration systems. These are already commercially available, but how about for farms and rooftops with ample sunlight? Can a solar powered version be made so that the more hot and humid it is, the more water you get?

Finally, just over New Year's, we've been digging in rice fields in Petchaburi province to take soil samples as part of our exploration of precision farming. For Thailand, agriculture is life, and technology is ready to help make it easier, more efficient, and more profitable than ever. A lot of this technology either already exists or is far along in development elsewhere around the world. All it needs is to be adapted to the type of agriculture practiced in Thailand. Maybe along the way we can develop something new. 

We finally dusted off our Arduino Uno and we checked out the Nano as well.


So stay tuned. If you are new, welcome! If you already know about us, thank you for your support, friendship and inspiration. If 2015 is what we make of it, we better start making!

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