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Weather RotoSmart is an automated

plant wall designed to grow crops while
optimizing WATER INTAKE.
It is a solar tracker that self-adapts itself
to weather conditions.

Scientific working group

Lyce Ren Descartes
Saint Genis Laval - France
Introduction

When we have a look at the meter presented on this webpage

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ which gives a projection of the worlds
population in real time, we can ask ourselves how 10 billion humans will manage to feed
themselves by the 2100s.

One of the challenges of the 21st century science will be to contribute to the qualitative and
quantitative improvement of agricultural production.
On the other hand, some technological and innovative solutions are now avalaible thanks to
technical progress.

Can we create an off-ground cultivation system optimizing nutritional crop

growth and quality in order to cancel water waste in meat production?

Mava, Emylia, Maud, Kenza, Hanane, Stella, Bastien, Yohan, Thomas and Gabin, aged 16 to
17, have gotten involved with natural sciences and engineering sciences.
Working on this issue gave us the opportunity to go deeper into an interdisciplinary project.

Special thanks to Dr Benoit Lefebvre for providing bacterial strain and to Mr Emmanuel
Michaux for proofreading of this report.

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Research for the ideal culture with amino acids intake equivalent
with meat intake

We mean to create a perfect culture replacing meat food which requires very large
amounts of water to be produced (see below).

In a Special INRA [french National Institute in Agronomy and Research] supplement in

Sciences et Avenir magazine dated november 2016, we discovered that the leguminous
plants are currently intensively studied for their nutritional qualities. But to ensure the
intake of all the essential amino acids, we ought to associate them to cereals. Our
investigations have lead us to an INRA publication: Association de cultures annuelles
combinant une lgumineuse et une crale: retour dexpriences dagriculteurs et analyse
which allowed us to understand the interest of leguminous plants and cereals association
for food but also for the crop.

For easier reference in our culture, we chose:

lentil for the leguminous plant
buckwheat because it is a pseudo-
cereal providing an interesting
nutritional intake.
Moreover both plants have comparable size
and culture conditions.

By reading the INRA article, we learnt

symbiosis will take place between the
leguminous plant and bacteria in the soil : it
helps the plant grow and can also
introduce nitrogen into the soil throughout
the next season.

In the same review, we also learnt that

thanks to its deeper root system and its faster growth, the cereal is more competitive than
the leguminous plant for nitrate uptake. As a consequence the leguminous plant depends

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more on atmospheric nitrogen fixation by symbiotic bacteria. Complementarity between
leguminous plant and cereal regarding nitrogen uptake yields to better performances in co-
cultivation than in monocropping".

We reached Mr. Benoit Lefebvre of the Toulouse INRA who kindly provided us with samples
of the bacterial strain Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae, which is specific to the lentil
du Puy used in our experiments.

In order to reuse the bacterial strains, we amplified it in a specific culture medium made up
of 0,5% tryptone, 0,3% yeast extract and 1,5% agar pH 7,0. Then we stored the bacteria into
glycerol and froze them in Eppendorf tubes. This enabled us to discover how to manipulate
in contamination free conditions.

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Working hypotheses, experiments and subsequent developments
Below is the mind map presenting all the experiments we wished to conduct.

Different hypotheses were formulated during our project advancement :

Hypothesis 1 : Rhizobium bacteria inoculation increases root nodules formation and
increases crop production while minimizing nitrogen fertilizers impact on aquifers.
Hypothesis 2 : Direct insolation potentiates cultivated plants growth.
Hypothesis 3 : Sowing plants according to a reasoned spatial pattern may reduce water
needs.
Hypothesis 4 : Protection against wind can potentiate plants growth by limiting
dehydratation due to transpiration.
Hypothesis 5 : A continuous rainwater intake is sufficient for quality production.
Experimental results acquired while testing our hypotheses will support our blueprint for
rotary panel development.

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Hypothesis 1 : Rhizobium bacteria inoculation increases root nodules
formation and increases crop production while minimizing nitrogen
fertilizers impact on aquifers.

Experiments
We prepared several growth media :
contamination free soil
contamination free soil inoculated with
common soil filtrate (potentially containing
Rhizobium bacteria from the wild)
contamination free soil inoculated with
selected strain of Rhizobium bacteria (beforehand
grown 24h in a culture medium).

For each condition we sowed small pots with either :

20 buckwheat seeds
20 lentil seeds
10 buckwheat seeds and 10 lentil seeds

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Results
These are our results after 3 weeks of cultivation.

Contamination free soil Contamination free soil Contamination free soil

inoculated with selected inoculated with common soil
strain of Rhizobium bacteria filtrate

Results analysis and subsequent developments

We decided not to sacrifice our crops for the testing before the winter holidays in order to
extend the experiment beyond, because we thought that three weeks of experimentation
was not enough. Indeed, plants were just germinating.
During the winter holidays, we abundantly watered the crops before leaving school, and
when we came back, we noted that the buckwheat seedling didnt go well with the excess of
water. They partly rotted. However, the lentil seedling which were watered tolerated the
excess water but didnt bear the lack of water, as tested in another batch.
We concluded :
lentil seedling tolerate water excess but dont withstand lack of water
buckwheat seedlings doesnt withstand water excess but adapt to moisture
deprivation.
We decided to use this unexpected observation as a response to our hypothesis #3.
Coming back from our winter break, we observed the plants sizes and sought for roots
nodules.

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 We crushed a nodule to study the bacteria. Here are our microscope observations. We
photographed structures which could correspond to the bacteria, as observed before the
inoculation. But our microscopes are limited to x400 magnification, therefore our
conclusions may be tentative.
Microscopic observation of a crushed root Microscopic observation of Rhizobium bacteria
nodule (x400) before inoculation (x 400)

Nodules count results :

Co-cultivation lentil/buckwheat
contamination free soil inoculated
with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv
viciae
Co-cultivation lentil/buckwheat
contamination free soil inoculated
with common soil filtrate

Nodules number 15 to 20 15 to 20
Nodules size small big

We come to conclude that inoculation of plant culture with nodules forming bacteria can
simply be achieved using random common soil filtrate.
Rhizobium root symbiosis allows atmospheric nitrogen fixation. Therefore the need for
exogenic fertilizer is reduced, and it contributes to introducing mineral nutrients required by
the cereal in the soil. Moreover, limiting fertilizer use reduces nitrates contamination of
groundwaters.

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Hypothesis 2 : direct insolation potentiates cultivated plants growth.

Experiments
For our first experiment we decided to
respect circadian rhythms and to exclusively
study :
direct insolation
diffuse insolation

We didnt want to test permanent lighting

because Weather RotoSmart is intended
to be installed outdoors. Permanent lighting would have been useless and unecological.
Regarding the incidence angle, we will test its importance on the schools terrace next year
(because it is lighter than our lab and it is outdoors).

Diffuse insolation Direct insolation

Crops are located far from windows Crops are located close to a window
or any source of light

Results

lentils alone (20 seeds)

mixed crops ( 10 lentils + 10 buckwheats)

buckwheats alone (20 seeds)

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 We tested our different cultures with the
indicated parameters.

Our results are presented and discussed

below :

Results

We didnt observe significant differences between the different crops, however we can
make some remarks about plant survival.
We observed :
more survivors with co-cultivation,
more survivors with direct insolation for all crops.

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Regarding seedlings length :
we observe a superior lentil length with indirect insolation, but the stems are fragile
and elongated, as shown by the lower knots number.
we dont notice significant length differences for the buckwheat but the seedlings are
also thin and fragile.

It thus appears that co-cultivation with direct insolation is more cost-effective.

Hypothesis 3 : Sowing plants according to a reasoned spatial pattern

may reduce water needs.
We used the results obtained with the crops that remained during the winter vacations to
refine our project and to optimize the water intake of Weather RotoSmart. Indeed, we
could conclude that :
lentil doesnt go with water deficit but bears excess water
buckwheat doesnt go with excess water but bears water deficit

Over dessicated soil :

Lentils died, buckwheat survived

In order to receive top sunlight exposure, our final

cultivation area on our prototype will have a 45 tilt, so
we considered sowing lentil seeds at the bottom and
buckwheat seeds at the top. This way, lentils will benefit
from water excess at the bottom and buckwheat will be
moisturized without excess because thanks to the tilt, the
water will flow down.

We decided to test the future layout with the following

protocol :

3 conditions :
20 lentils at the bottom and 20 buckwheats at the top
20 buckwheats and 20 lentils randomly placed
20 buckwheats at the bottom and 20 lentils at the top

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Results

As expected, buckwheat grows

very well at the top of the panel
(less water) and rots at the
bottom (excess water) while
lentil accommodates better with
bottom positionning.

Hypothesis 4 : protection against wind can potentiate plants growth

by limiting dehydratation due to transpiration.

Experiments

We tested the wind factor on our crops. On February 16th, after only two weeks of culture,
we cut grown plants from each of our crops and weighed them.

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Results

As we can see, wind is not a factor in plant growth for our experiment. We should wait for an
extra week for germination before installing a fan, as the experimental period was too short
(just a week).
YET it was necessary to give more water to the crops exposed to wind. So we must consider
the watering factor during a latter experiment.

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 To achieve this, it is necessary to control
water intake in the two crops in order to
provide more reliable conclusions to our
engineering pals.

As we could expect, with equal watering,

seedling exposed to wind began to wither
after two weeks. Good protection against
the wind is therefore necessary.

Results analysis and subsequent development

In order to optimize our crop, ensuring panel rotation according to wind but also to light
exposure, we investigated plants transpiration. Indeed a plant needs to open its stomas to
catch carbon dioxide (essential for photosynthesis) and enable raw sap ascent (water and
mineral salts) by suction. But in hot weather conditions, direct exposure and wind, the plant
closes its stomas (often between noon and 2 p.m.).

We come to the conclusion that the first factor which causes stoma closing is the plants
dessication (linked to the soils dessication).

So we will ask our engineering pals to favour direct lighting for photosynthesis but if the soil
lacks water, rotate the panel back to the sun and if there is wind rotate the panel back to the
wind.

Conclusion

no wind wind no wind

Outdoors conditions
dry soil wet soil wet soil

Panel settings
back to the sun back to the sun facing the sun
(automatic orientation)

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Hypothesis 5 : continuous rainwater intake is sufficient for quality
production.

We wondered if our off-ground cultivation can

succeed with rainwater supply only, i.e. with a
water supply deprived of mineral salts (just as
distilled water).

Nevertheless, we keep in mind that our plants will

grow in soil buckets which may provide sufficient
mineral elements.

Experiments
So we undertook to grow crops watered with distilled water.

Sown on 2017/02/02 Five weeks later

Results analysis and subsequent development

The observed results after five weeks didnt show any significant difference in plant size or
survival.

Our observations suggest that our culture can be watered with rainwater only, without a
need for a pump which draws ground water.
But we know that our culture soil contains mineral elements which ensure plant mineral
feeding. Thus, watering our culture with rainwater deprived from mineral salts is quit
pointless.
By the time, our soil risks to deplete itself from mineral elements. To test this, we should
grow our seeds on a mineral free terrain.
In order to sustain our culture, we suggest to :
recycle excess spraying water which, by its passage in the soil accumulates minerals
change the soil every 2-3 years or add compost in order to maintain sufficient
mineral salts level needed by plants grown without exogenous mineral fertilization.
We decide to avoid fertilizer use that could pollute groundwater.

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Conclusion : specification of our off-ground cultivation

Favor co-cultivation : buckwheat and lentil (to replace meat food which drains too
much water).

Buckwheat must be placed at the top and lentil must be placed at the bottom
(different water requirements).

Inoculation of plant culture with nodules forming bacteria achieved using random
common soil filtrate rather than inoculation of a selected strain of Rhizobium
bacteria.

Our crop must preferentially face the sun but in the event of strong wind and/or dry
soil, the crop must be moved back to the wind, and/or the sun.

Continuous recycling of excess water, and soil exchange every three years (to
maintain necessary mineral salt levels and to allow rainwater hydration)

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Automated panel design and implementation

Design brief
Following experimental testing of plants requirements, it was decided to create an
automated system for off-ground culture which could ensure the following functions to :
follow the suns orientation and to maximize solar exposure
limit wind exposure in changing the plates orientation
collect a maximum of rainwater in order to ensure soil watering
measure the moisture rate of the soil
ensure automatic watering of the culture according to its needs
measure wind speed for better plant growth
operate from an autonomous source of electrical power like a battery

These functions require a movable crops area. So our project is a rotary panel. This panel
requires :
a rotary system including a motor and a sprocket rack
a water tank which collect rainwater
a watering system including pump and drop by drop irrigation
a control system and associated sensors
a crops area with a 45 tilt
a jack socket for an autonomous source of electrical power

Functional diagram

We chose a rounded-shape water tank in order to deflect the air flow due to wind
turbulence.

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Construction of our automated panel

Conceptual phase
After analysis of the project challenges, we have designed our
prototypes paper blueprint. We have devised different
modelisation releases by means of CAD (Computer Aided Design )
with the Solidworks software, and then, adapted it in machinable
release for the numeric milling machine.

Machining
First challenge : use of a milling machine
Soft and easy machining material : PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC) plates
Each part was constructed with PVC plates. Here, we encountered our first difficulties
with the cut of the plate because it was supposed to be 25 mm in thickness, but the
milling machine cant mill plates that thick. Moreover, we were limited to a format that
could not exceed A4.
Upon the cut out parts, we filed them, put them together and glued them to form the
base structure.
With the same method, we constructed the wall intended to receive the crop of the
Natural Sciences working group.

In order to catch a maximum of light energy and to compensate our 45.7 latitude, we
decided to tilt the walls to 45. Then, we designed a water retention system on the
panel so that water wouldnt stream down too fast and escape from root absorption.
Finally, we sidelined these difficulties by realizing several cuts in three plates of different
thicknesses : 10 mm for the white one and 5 mm for the blue one.

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Making process

Right now we are pondering on building the water tank which is more complex. Indeed, it is
cylindrical in shape and it cant be realized with stiff PVC like the plate and the wall. We
contemplate, then, making it with metal sheets or with malleable PVC.

The power supply

To allow a power supply, which wont suffer a twist through multiple plate rotations,
we thought of powering the plate thanks to a central jack socket which wont limit
the number of plate rotation. Indeed, a simple electrical wire would be susceptible to
breaking after many plate rotations so, to avoid this, we chose a jack socket, with no
strips attached.
Finally, our engine will be at first, DC power supplied but we wish in the future to
make it autonomous with solar panels.

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The control system
Arduino electronic board for easy programming
Once our prototype achieved, we are going to link sun sensor and moisture sensor
thanks to the Arduino electronic board.
The implementation of the sun sensor and moisture sensor is very important because
it allows the free movement of the plate. The sun sensor is able to catch sun
radiation and informs the programming system to turn the plate in front of the sun.
Concerning the moisture sensor, it defines the moisture threshold below which the
programming system instructs the pump to irrigate crops. Thanks to this sensor we
will reduce water wastage.
The wall will also be linked to the tank by a pump. The plate will turn by means of an
engine, a sprocket racks system and ball bearings.

The watering system

Our intention was to create autonomous offshore crops that wouldnt need water
supplementation. This difficult work is unachieved. To this day important element is
missing : the water tank. It is impossible for us to design it so we looked for a
company able to create it.
We decided to use a drop by drop system to reduce water losses. Indeed, this system
allows an optimal watering so this configuration is the best possible compared with
manual watering which implies constant human intervention and is less precise.

The water tank

Several sessions were dedicated to looking for the
water tank. At the beginning, we thought about
realizing it ourselves with the 3D printer but it
wouldn't be waterproof. As a consequence, we
decided to contact several waterproof tubing
manufacturers but most of them were not in
capacity to build it and a large part of them didnt
answer.

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Conclusion

Thanks to Weather RotoSmart which associates a specialized co-cultivation to a weather

controlled system, we meant to :
limit water intake on a planetary level because our culture can provide all essential
amino acids and therefore replace meat food which requires large amounts of water to
be produced.
limit water loss of our culture thanks to the rainwater recycling and the integrated
pump.
optimize crop growth thanks to seedling spatial distribution, the panels rotation and
the symbiosis provided by Rhizobium bacteria on the lentil crops.
limit fertilizer intakes which are harmful for groundwater and thus provide cleaner
drinking water for the living world.

This experience was extremely enriching for us, on a personal level because it is gratifying to
be the first scientific group working in different domains. We have demonstrated we can
work together.
The pilot project allowed us to function as a team across several fields (Biology and
Engineering), communicate results, exchange ideas in order to adapt to the requirements of
each field.
To achieve this, we needed to have a good grasp of our objectives and constraints. Thanks to
this project, we became aware of the group works interest in any project realization. In our
future, especially in our jobs, this project will allow us to never neglect the collaborators
opinion and the most important thing, listening to make progress with a common approach.
During this year, we earnt a great friendship, lots of fun and the pleasure to be successful.
With this competition we grew sensitized about environment preservation and more
specifically water preservation.
We were already aware of environmental issues but this project allowed us to emphasize on
water concerns. Water is part of our daily lives. This project taught us it is precious and must
be preserved.

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