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Chapter

Automation and Robotics Used in

Hydroponic System
Alejandro Isabel Luna Maldonado,
Julia Mariana Márquez Reyes, Héctor Flores Breceda,
Humberto Rodríguez Fuentes, Juan Antonio Vidales Contreras
and Urbano Luna Maldonado

Abstract

Hydroponic system requires periodic labor, a systematic approach, repetitive

motion and a structured environment. Automation, robotics and IoT have allowed
farmers to monitoring all the variables in plant, root zone and environment under
hydroponics. This research introduces findings in design with real time operating
systems based on microcontrollers; pH fuzzy logic control system for nutrient
solution in embed and flow hydroponic culture; hydroponic system in combina-
tion with automated drip irrigation; expert system-based automation system;
automated hydroponics nutrition plants systems; hydroponic management and
monitoring system for an intelligent hydroponic system using internet of things and
web technology; neural network-based fault detection in hydroponics; additional
technologies implemented in hydroponic systems and robotics in hydroponic
systems. The above advances will improve the efficiency of hydroponics to increase
the quality and quantity of the produce and pose an opportunity for the growth of
the hydroponics market in near future.

Keywords: hydroponic systems, sensors, microcontrollers, automation, neuronal

networks, robotics

1. Introduction

It is estimated that the total world population could reach 9.15 billion in 2050
[1], and to increase the global food production, even more advances in agriculture
must be made intensive in crop yields and in practices that are more friendly with
the environment. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a water solution
without soil. If the roots are suspended in a liquid medium or supported using an
inert medium, the system is known as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT). In NFT
systems, the plants (lettuce, leafy crops and herbs) are grown in channels (gullies)
and fed continuously at a rate of approximately 1 L min−1 (Figure 1).
On the other hand, if the roots are floating (pool), the system is known as deep
floating technique (DFT). The DFT systems (Figure 2) are long, cement or wood
rectangular reservoirs and lined with a durable polyliner. To keep the plants in net
pots, holes are perforated in a foam board which rest on the surface of the water.

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Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 1.
Nutrient film technique.

Figure 2.
Deep floating technique (courtesy of Hydroponicsfarm).

Aeroponic systems are very similar to NFT systems, differing primarily in the
spatial arrangement of cultivation channels. The cultivation space is optimized for
the aeroponic plants are grown suspended in air, having as support PVC pipes which
can be arranged horizontally or vertically, enabling a better exploitation of areas and
installing a larger number of plants per square meter surface of the oven, obtaining
thus a direct increase of productivity [2, 3]. Hydroponic systems, such as the deep
flow technique, nutrient film technique or aeroponic systems, are essential tools in
plant factories [4]. To accomplish with this, hydroponic systems must collect a lot of
information, since this allows a better diagnosis of the problems and better under-
stand the development of hydroponic crops. Automatic sensors not only have the
ones that can be read at predefined intervals, but also the readings of these sensors
are stored so that higher results can be obtained for analysis and diagnosis resulting
in higher crop yields and friendlier practices with the environment. These days,
there are microcontrollers (Figure 3) on the market that are compatible with a wide
variety of sensors and can be used for automatic monitoring and robotics.
The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) has allowed farmers to automate the
hydroponic culture (Figure 4). Monitoring of water level, pH, temperature, flow
and light intensity can be regulated using IoT, which allows for machine to machine
interaction and controlling the hydroponic system autonomously and intelligently
employing deep neural networks [5]. The pH of the nutrient solution for most
nutrient film technique is 6.0–7.0 for most plants grown in recirculating nutrient
solution and 5.4–6.0 for substrate culture [6]. There are also powerful computers
that could store all this information and build a big database.

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 3.
Huertomato microcontroller for measuring of humidity, water and air temperature, light, pH, electrical
conductivity (courtesy of Arduino).

Figure 4.
Schematics of internet of hydroponics (courtesy National Institute of technology, Trichy, India).

It has been implemented a smart hydroponics system (Figure 5) that automates

the growing process of the crops using Bayesian network model, which classifies and
predicts the optimum value in each actuator to autonomously control the hydroponics
farm [7]. Finally, we raise topics related to robotics for hydroponic systems (Figure 6).
Hydroponic systems cover approximately 35,000 ha in the world and further research
is needed to develop new hydroponic systems to reduce the cost of energy and materi-
als required for crop production. Therefore, this chapter aims to be a practical guide to
those interested in hydroponics automation and robotics to produce vegetables.

3
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 5.
Automatic grow cabinets for growing plants at home (courtesy of HG-hydroponics).

Figure 6.
Robot for hydroponic systems (courtesy of Iron Ox Company).

2. Automation in hydroponic systems

All possible variables in root zone must be monitored for automation of the
hydroponic system and sensors of pH, the electrical conductivity (EC), light,
the ambient temperature, the temperature of the solution, the humidity and the
carbon dioxide, the dissolved oxygen and the oxidation–reduction potential must
be considered as they directly affect the growth of hydroponically grown plants
(Figure 7). The transpiration can be measured with either water ultrasound level
sensors or load cells. If the area or volume of culture is large, several sensors must
be placed to adequately control the entire crop. Ion sensors (17 essential elements in
plant nutrition) are still studied for their durability and stability [8].

2.1 Hydroponic system design with real time OS based on microcontroller

It was developed a complete automation hydroponic system for maintaining

stable electrical conductivity, pH, growth light and monitoring CO2, temperature
and humidity. The system consisted of an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller run-
ning ARM (Figure 8) embedded operating system, the official real time operating
system (RTOS). The system read the pH level and nutrients on the nutrient solution
of hydroponics system, as well as the temperature, humidity, CO2 levels and the

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 7.
Hydroponics automation system (courtesy of over grower).

Figure 8.
ARM cortex-M4 microcontroller (courtesy of developer arm).

light intensity around the system; in addition there were LED light three lines each a
different configuration on each line that was used for the lighting of plants and light
color was selected and the system data were saved in SD Card.
In addition, the system was capable to control desired concentration level with
variation of less than 3%, pH sensor showed good accuracy 5.83% from pH value
3.23–10. Growing light intensity measurement was 105 μmol/m2/s therefore, the lights
were turned on at least 17 h/day to fulfill plant light requirement. RTOS gave good
performance with latency and jitter less than 15 μs, system overall show good perfor-
mance and accuracy for automating hydroponic plant in vegetative phase of growth.
If the system was turned on, the computer program turned off three pumps (stir

5
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

pump, water pump and the dosing pump). After initialized an LCD module, then
initialized serial and serial to PC for CO2 sensor. The program read the system con-
figuration data that were stored in the SD card and initialized global variables with
the configuration. Later program will update the LCD display. The program started
up the sensor to read data sensors, push button to read the buttons provided, mixing
to perform compounding nutrients hydroponics, timer flush to set watering plants,
timer lights to regulate time lighting plants by LED lights. A timer was started up for
minimum water and a sensor to detect the presence of water in nutrients within of a
container. Once the water was activated, then timer watered the plants. The pH sensor
recorded the initial pH value in the solution, then adding the pH solution up 5 mL and
compared the pH sensor measurements obtained with the instrument (Figure 9).
A total of 600 s was taken by DHT22 humidity sensor sampling every 30 s and
the readings were compared with the measuring instrument. Twenty-five minutes
were taken by MH-Z19 sensor with readings every minute in rooms, results were
compared with measuring instruments. The system initially provided nutrients for
5 mL and then the system recorded and calculated the amount of nutrients needed.
A distance of 30 cm from LED to plant hole was settled to use a meter for Quantum
PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). A LED coefficient was obtained by
dividing average light intensity (ALI) with lux. The coefficient of LED and ALI
can be used to find daily light integral (DLI) during 17 h. RTOS performance was
obtained using square wave input signal and measuring input signal versus output
signal delay using oscilloscope. The difference of humidity data retrieval between
DHT22 sensors and measuring devices was very small. CO2 data retrieval between
MH-Z19 sensor and measuring devices at room had a difference for each room
relatively equal amount, then for the sensor MH-Z19 in this case with a correction
factor, so the results obtained are close to the results of measuring instruments. A
correction factor of 260 ppm was used for the MH-Z19 sensor against the initial

Figure 9.
Block diagram of system.

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

value. The growing light intensity was measured at 25 cm from light source. The
result showed each growing light produces difference intensity ranging from 6.03
to 10.74 μmol/m2/s, to fulfill plant light requirement on at least 17 h day−1. From the
results of pH meter sensor, the difference obtained is so small so that the pH meter
sensor can be used to read the pH suitably. When taking data for RTOS experiment
(Figure 10), the main programs still running while the experiment still ongoing.
The yellow signal is a given signal and the other signal is a signal output from
each thread. Time latency (in microseconds) was very small. The results showed
that hydroponic automated system performed well. RTOS ran all the tasks with a
latency less than 15 μS. Environment sensor overall showed good result, tempera-
ture reading error was less than 4%, humidity reading less than 5.36% and CO2
sensor accuracy was calibrated 260 ppm from initial value. System was capable
to mix nutrients in 80 s with error less than 3.48%. Light intensity measurement
showed different result for different color spectrum in order to fulfill daily light
plant requirement we need to turn on the light at least 17 h day−1. The vegetable
grew well and can be harvested in 5 weeks [9].

2.2 pH fuzzy logic control system for nutrient solution in embedded and flow
hydroponic culture

The fuzzy-based control system was developed for maintaining a proper acid-
ity level of nutrient solution used in potted flower cultivation of Chrysanthemum
embedded and flow hydroponic cultures. Two control valves maintained the
nutrient solution pH at a desired set point as follows: (1) acid valve (to manage the
addition of acid solution necessary) and (2) base valve (to keep the addition of base
solution necessary) (Figure 11). The developed control algorithm was based on
membership functions of fuzzy arrangement.
Fuzzy rules had 21 linguistic statements to achieve smoothness, by trials and
errors using the membership functions based on the operator skills and experience.
The fuzzy logic controlled nutrient solution pH and increased the smoothness of
the pH the during control course. The culture vessel consisted of six blocks, each
of which containing four potted flowers. The nutrient solution flows into and fills
the cultivation bench until a certain level, 5–10 cm from pot base. The embed-
ded system kept the plant growth media in 10 min, before it then flows back into
the tank and flows into the next block. The flow rate of the nutrition used in this
experiment was 2.4 L min−1 and the measuring apparatus was Hanna pH-meter
(HI8710E model).
The control system maintained 0.3 M H3PO4 and 0.4 M KOH, which flowed
constantly from Marriott tube. The valve used was of solenoid type with 1/8 in. in
diameter. Calibration of the pH-meter was done on voltage basis using PCL-812PG

Figure 10.
Experiment of RTOS.

7
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 11.
Embedded and flow system with pH control system.

interface. Marriott tube was also used to calibrate the flow rate as well as on the
relay circuit. The measurement result of the pH of nutrient solution was in the form
of DC voltage and was transferred to 88 shunt circuit in order to get input voltage
at a range of 0–5 V conforming to the working voltage of the PCL-812PG interface.
This voltage became the reference digital signal for the computer to conduct data
processing with control program. The output of the control action was the duration
of the solenoid valve opening depended upon the input signal. A solenoid valve was
activated by a relay circuit, which obtained voltage from the computer.
Process error (E) was calculated based on the difference between the set point
(Sp) and the actual pH. If an E positive value was obtained, it indicated that the
position of the actual pH was above the Sp and negative value of E indicated that
the position of the actual was under the Sp. The error difference (dE) was the
change in E to time. The error difference (dE) was the change in E to time. If the
dE were positive, the error E had the tendency to increase. Conversely, if dE were
negative, the error E decreased. Every numeric variable was plotted into a fuzzy
system consisted of Large Positive (LP), Fair Positive (FP) and Small Positive (SP),
Zero (ZO), Large Negative (LN), Fair Negative (FN) and Small Negative (SN). The
control action was based on decision matrix in which there are criteria of Quick
Acid (QA), Fair Acid (FA), Slow Acid (SA), Neutral (ZO), Quick Base (QB), Fair
Base (FB) and Slow Base (SB).
The measurement result of the pH of nutrient solution was in the analog form
of DC voltage and was transferred to defuzzification by means of weighting to
the absolute membership value from every label with the membership degree
obtained. A change in valve opening time, either for base tube or acid tube was due
to the final output of the fuzzy. The computer program for the control system was
developed using the Pascal language in DOS environment (Figure 12). The output
voltage from the PCL-812PG had a range of 0−+5 V. The debit of the base and acid

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 12.
Pascal environment.

flows from the Marriott tube was kept constant at 1.3 eels for base solution and
4.3 cm3 s−1 for acid solution. There were differences in the heads of the air inlet and
outlet at the Marriott tubes for base and acid solutions, respectively. The initial pH
of the solution was above the set point and kept on moving to reach the pH = 6. To
change the pH solution from 7.0 to 6.0, it took 26 s and a 100 s to increase pH from
6.0 to 7.0. That indicated that at the same period of time [H+] freed by the H3P04
acid was more than that of the ion [OH−] freed by the KOH base.
The supplied voltage from PCL to relay circuit was on when the voltage reached
1.4 V and off when the voltage decreased to 1.1 V. The pH of the nutrient solution
in first block can be controlled to approach the set point of pH = 6. To decrease the
pH toward the set point it requires 68 s. After reaching the set point. The pH of the
solution did not change very much due to the small change in [H+] concentration.
Moreover, the straight line approaching the set point tendency of the error curve
during the control indicates that the fuzzy logic control can maintain the solution pH
at the set point. An overshoot not occurred in this pH control. The nutrient solution
pH in second and third block can be controlled faster than in first block. The same
phenomena occur in third block and the following blocks. In that manner, the set
point indicates that the fuzzy logic control can maintain the solution pH at the set
point. Both of valves frequently open in turns since the control load was still high at
the start up. This frequency decreased at the following blocks [10].

2.3 Hydroponics in combination with an automated drip irrigation system

A grapevine rootstock in hydroponics in combination with an automated drip

irrigation system was developed, which consisted of a hardware and software of
the automated hydroponics system for grapevine in pots. Each pot had the same
amount of fertilizer and the drip irrigation system was used. It was also constructed
a time-based closed loop hydroponics and used a microcontroller for supplying
the water to the pots (Figure 13). The irrigation system consisted of a 200 L water
storage tank, containing Hoagland solution, which was modified to regulate the
optimum 6.2 pH and electrical conductivity levels between 1.0 and 1.3 dS−1 for the
green cuttings of grapevine. Nutrient solution has been renewed when its EC level
reached to 1.5–1.8 dS−1. A submersible pump operating at 12 DCV was installed
inside the water storage tank. A steel structure was built to keep pots at height of
1.5 m from the ground level of the greenhouse and water storage tank and controller

9
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 13.
Grapevine experimental setup.

circuit were installed immediately under the pots. The excess water was easiest to
return to the reservoir by the drainage pipes connected to the drainage holes of the
pots. Electrical conductivity of the irrigation water (ECw) was measured by an
EC59 meter. Pots were irrigated with the same amount of nutrient solution. The
required water was supplied by using 16 inches of diameter pipes with 4 L h−1-
drippers at a spacing of 33 cm, with three drippers serving each pot. Some connec-
tion apparatus and valves were used in the irrigation system to integrate all items.
At the beginning of the test, all substrates were filled up to field capacity, then
the automated system started irrigation at 4 h intervals and run the submersible
pump only 1 min throughout the whole growing season so that this irrigation
management kept the soil moisture at the level of field capacity in each substrate
since excess water was drained to the reservoir back after each irrigation event. The
controller circuit, in which main power supply was 12 DCV, providing power to the
controller and relays, but it was reduced to 5 DCV for microcontroller by using a
regulator of 7805 and relay (Figure 14).
The program providing the automation in the hydroponics system was simple
and basic and very easy to load into the memory of the microcontroller, which
repeated the actions throughout the whole growing season. The dosage of water was
determined according to the pumping time of water. The microcontroller switched
on relaying to pumping water to the root territory only for 1 min. After that, sup-
plying of water has been stopped to the pump and then waited for 4 h of interval for
the next irrigation session. The system took over the irrigation events successfully
for the whole growing season. The system conveys a properly balanced nutrient
solution to the plant root area. The system saved water and fertilizer, but the water
level in the reservoir must be checked with 2- or 3-weeks interval or water level
sensor should be added to the controller circuit. Perlite due to its characteristics has
more advantages as being used in the hydroponics system as compared with peat
and peat + perlite (1:1, v:v). This system can be used for small producers from small
hydroponic systems [11].

2.4 Automatic system for hydroponics (HydroAS)

HydroAS could produce fodder in 6 days. The system controlled autonomously

the desired agronomic conditions for production and fodder flow. The automatic

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 14.
Controller circuit.

Figure 15.
Fodder production system.

solution comprised: the mechanical structure, the mechanical and hydraulic com-
ponents, and the control system to automate the hydroponic automatic system. The
mechanical structure consists of the following parts: (a) mechanical structure of six
storeys; (b) conveyor to exit the produced fodder off the system; (c) two elevators,
at each top of the six storey structure; (d) a fodder sowing system, which placed the
seeds in the trays; (e) two pushers at each of the elevator, which pushed the trays in
the structure and (f) unloading system, which extracted the finished fodder in the
trays (Figure 15).
The electrical components comprised the power, sensor and actuators circuits
(Figure 16). The power circuit consisted of depicted the protections and trans-
formers to obtain 24 DCV to supply the S7–300 programmable logic controller
(PLC), sensors and the command circuit, which were mainly digital, inductive and
magnetic, that indicate start/end limits for the actuator’s movement such as level
sensors applied in the nutrients and water reservoirs. The actuators used were (a)
two motors for the vertical movement of the elevators; (b) two pneumatic cylinder
for the pusher; (c) two worm motors for the sowing platform and (d) two gearmo-
tors for the rotational joint of the sowing and unloading platforms. The hydraulic
system supplied the nutrients and the flow of water in the system and consisted of

11
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 16.
Power circuit (a), sensor circuit for the unloading part (b) and actuator circuit for the elevator one (c).

two irrigation pumps to generate redundancy. The hydraulic circuit comprised the
valves, nutrients and water reservoirs, the six storeys pipeline with the irrigation
micro-jets, and the 2 m3 water return reservoir with the two redundant pumps.
The chosen microspray jets operate at 1 bar and have the capacity of 1 L h−1, with
0.8 m maximum spray diameter area. The pipeline structure consisted of six storeys
and watering pumps performed system irrigation three times. The system controls
the actuators of the mechanical structure. The nutrient solution control is also
performed in the PLC, to control the pH and electric conductivity, while mixing the
nutrients and the control sequence of the trays in the hydroponic system.
This sequence definition is a high-level control task, while the low-level actua-
tor control is performed in inner loops and is programmed directly on the motor
drives. The system starts when the first storey is filled with trays. When the seeds
are placed in the tray, in the first storey near a first elevator, the next step is to
elevate the tray and push it to the structure in the second storey. On the other side
of the structure, a second elevator, receives a tray that was pushed as consequence
of the previous movement. This tray is then elevated to the next storey. This process
is repeated until the tray reaches the end. When this happens, the elevator number
two descends to the first storey and unloads the produced fodder to the conveyor.
After unloading this tray, it is pushed to the first level for washing, and the next
6 days cycle then starts, to produce new trays full of fodder. This system was simu-
lated in Matlab SimMechanics, showing its proper operation for the mechanical and
electrical parts. The development phase of the fodder was tested, and validated,
which benefits the agricultural holding [12].

2.5 Expert system-based automation system (HES)

HES was developed to minimize the labor force used in the process of hydro-
ponics, the total amount of time spent in agricultural process, human-based
errors, as well as, the control of hydroponics greenhouse plant production. All
these processes are conducted by a computer unit where the relevant programs
are loaded. The system defined the values that belong to the input parameters
by using the output parameters that are used by the user (Figure 17). The input

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 17.
Graphic user interface of HES.

parameters prepared the optimum growth environment for the plants. User
interface controlled the knowledge base of the expert system and entered data and
realize operations. All parameters were taken in to consideration in order to create
controlled environment exactly. Knowledge base is continuously in a process of
improvement and human experts would add new knowledge to knowledge base
or modify the existing knowledge heuristics when new situations occurs. The data
base was made up of real conditions that summarize the current situation of the
problem and quality-value pairs. By all these output parameters level management,
the total level grade can be attained, and this can determine the development
period of the plant.
This system had two rule bases. The first one was the rule base that constitutes
the input parameters and the second one was the rule base that determines the
growth period of the plant. The growth period of the plant is determined by
adding the values of plant drain degree, plant nutrition degree, plant deteriora-
tion degree, plant photosynthesis degree and plant growth degree. The inference
engine, had the function to produce the results that the system needs by using the
data in the knowledge base and by interpreting the rules of the system as follows;
the user interface of the HES software and the relevant output values taken from
the greenhouse system and the sensors are interpreted and translated into linguistic
expressions such as low-high. When the system finds a rule that matches the related
values in the rule base, it attributes this level value as the level value. It is used for
all parameters temperatures, oxygen device, nutrition and the operating levels for
water heater, fertilizer tube, pH balance, conditioner, moisture balance, carbon
dioxide producer and artificial light are attuned, creating the appropriate condi-
tions for the greenhouse system (Figure 18). Plant growth period is attained from

13
Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 18.
Hydroponic system setup.

the total of plant drain degree, plant nutrition degree, plant deterioration degree,
plant photosynthesis degree and plant growth degree parameters. After all these
processes are completed, reports were produced by the system, based on the plant
growth period [13].

2.6 Automated hydroponics nutrition plant systems (AHNPS)

AHNPS was placed in a special chamber or vessel and the nutrients were sup-
plied directly to the hydroponic roots at any given time (Figure 19). Microcontroller
(Arduino Uno) will control the flow of nutrient solution on the vessel automati-
cally, and the microcontroller can be controlled from Android smartphone. This
system had an embedded program module. The microcontroller worked in real
time to setup the alarms on nutrient pumps. If alarm is enabled, a relay will be
also activated, and then the pump will drain the nutrition solution on the plant. If
alarm is deactivated, the relay will be turned off and the pump will stop supplying.
Moreover, it has been designed a virtuino application on Android smartphone that
serves to check the water level and temperature around the plants. Before start-
ing the design of a virtuino application, it first provides the data storage using the
features of thingspeak.com.
The hydroponic flow system starts from the detection of a proximity sensor
and a temperature sensor (Figure 20). The sensor will detect the water level in
the hydroponic tube and the temperature sensor to detect the room temperature.
The detection sensor was connected to a relay that in turn was attached to the
microcontroller port. When the relay port pin is lower than the specified height,
the water flow will be run on the water pump to irrigate the plant. If the relay of
port pin is turned on, it means the water level is above of the specified height,
and then the water pump will stop being water, in that manner the water flow was
regular. Time and date were displayed at any time of the process in an LCD screen.
The pumps are used not only to increase water but also to add nutrients to the
hydroponic tube. The water pumps were used for water recirculation and relays
used to control both nutrient solution as well drain pumps. The system mecha-
nism worked as follows: HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor detected the height value of

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

Figure 19.
Experimental hydroponic system configuration.

Figure 20.
Automated hydroponics nutrition plant system.

nutrient solution in hydroponic plants by the parameter of the high of water (in
cm) unit and the temperature. The LM-35 sensor detected the temperature in
Celsius degrees.
The ultrasonic sensors measured the distance of water based on ultrasonic wave.
The difference between the transmission time and the reception time became the
water distance. The system started working by using of sensors connected to the
electrode. The output of this electrode will be forwarded to the microcontroller as
an entry point to be processed by the microcontroller. The microcontroller received
this voltage signal and compared it with the previous value and decided based on that
input signal. Based on this voltage the microcontroller decided whether to drain the
water at the pump or not. All the commands on microcontroller (Arduino Uno) can
be controlled from a smartphone-based Android. It was observed that this hydro-
ponic plant grows well with proper water and nutrient usage because it is controlled
by the microcontroller. The rate of hydroponic plant growth was faster when com-
pared with plants with soil-grown systems. The WiFi module sent the water level
information and the temperature values of the plants area. This value was compared
to the value in LCD microcontroller and on Android smartphone application. This
value is directly obtained from the sensor and sent to the Arduino. After the water
level 5 cm in the nutrient tube then the pump stops, and water did not flow anymore.
The average temperature for five tests was 28.43°C. The relationship of water height
in the nutrient tube with time is recorded continuously by the ultrasonic sensor on
several measurements. The maximum level of water was 6 cm in the hydroponic tube.
The sensor detected if the water level decrease in hydroponic nutrition tube. If the
water level has decreased, then the sensor will perceive what occurs and automati-
cally the water pump will be turned on to increase the water level on the hydroponic
nutrient tube [14].

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Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

2.7 Hydroponic management and monitoring system for an IOT-based NFT

farm using web technology (Hommons)

It was created a hydroponic farm management system that could monitor water
temperature, water level, higher densities of nutrient solution and the acidity of a
nutrient solution using sensors are related and connected to the microcontroller via
a website. Hommons used a 20 W solar system, which consisted of a solar cell panel,
controllers, battery and DC to AC inverters. The ESP8266 module was used as a
communication medium through a wireless network to the internet and integrated
with objects that have connection to the internet. Systems can be accessed through
the web page using browser based on the server address. The core material of the
PVC pipe tool with 3 in. of diameter as his planting medium and ¾ in. of diameter
PVC to flow the nutrient solution. The plastic box reservoir served to accommo-
date any mix of nutrient solution in water. Hommons hardware design relation-
ship of the NFT consisted of sensors, actuator, microcontroller, ESP8266, wi-fi
access point, microcomputer (Raspberry Pi) and power supply. In addition, some
Raspberry Pi 2 microcomputers served to accommodate the webserver and brokers.
Communication technologies on this system using 802.11 or better known as Wi-Fi
by using the internet (Figure 21).
The power supply using voltage 5 DCV and 2A. Various environmental sensors
had been installed to detect any change in the physical or chemical environments and
sensors became the input to the process management of NFT. After the user success-
fully performs the login process so the system redirected the user to the main page
heading. There were two buttons on the sidebar navigation. On the main content
there were four columns that display data from the sensors-sensors on the NFT
hydroponic farming tools, such as nutrient levels, nutrient pH levels, temperature,
nutrient and nutrient EC and parts per million (ppm) level. In the navbar a notifica-
tion function button displayed the alarm or warning to the user while the settings
button function settled the system (restart and shutdown) and logout of the system.
Automation settings pages were divided into two parts: first part with its own set of
pH and ppm values are desirable way entering the value in the textbox. The second
automation page contained a selection of plants type which pH and ppm value have
been set before, so farmers only need to choose the type of plants that they main-
tained to grown. After the hardware and sensors on the hydroponic NFT manage-
ment system were integrated, the sensors (ultrasonic sensors, pH, temperature and
EC) needed to be tested to quantify the level of accuracy. The system testing used the

Figure 21.
Hommons hydroponic system.

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original plant samples to find out if the plant is growing well. The plants used in this
test are pokchoy, lettuce and kale at the teen age period (after nursery). Plant growth
was observed by taking pictures of the plant for a few days [15].

2.8 Neural network-based fault detection in hydroponics

It was developed a fault detection model for hydroponic systems, with a feed-
forward neural network. Mechanical, sensor and biological faults were considered:
a preliminary detection system detected the existence of any faulty situations.
Finally, the developed network, only considered two first kinds, mechanical and
sensor faults. Biological faults, because of their particularities, were treated sepa-
rately [16].
Other model based on a feedforward neural network predicted pH and EC
changes in the root zone of Lactuca sativa cv. Vivaldi grown in a deep–trough
hydroponic system. The neural net had inputs as follows: pH, EC, nutrient solution
temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, plant age, amount
of added acid and amount of added base and two outputs: pH and EC. A combina-
tion of network architecture and training method was one hidden layer with nine
hidden nodes, trained with the quasi–Newton backpropagation algorithm which
was the most suitable and accurate (Figure 22). The model was capable of predict-
ing pH at the next 20–min time step within 0.01 pH units and EC within 5 μS cm−1.
Simpler prediction methods, such as linear extrapolation and the lazy man predic-
tion, value of the previous time step, gave comparable accuracy much of the time,
though, they performed poorly in situations where the control actions of the system
had been activated and resulted rapid changes in the predicted parameters. In
those cases, the neural network model did not encounter any difficulties predict-
ing the rapid changes. Thus, the developed model successfully identified dynamic
processes in the root zone of the hydroponic system and accurately predicted one–
step–ahead values of pH and EC [17].

2.9 IoT-based intelligent hydroponic system

An IoT-based intelligent hydroponic plant factory solution called PlantTalk was

developed. PlantTalk intelligence could be built through an arbitrary smartphone.
PlantTalk was flexibly to configure the connections of various plant sensors and
actuators through a smartphone. Python programs for plant care intelligence
through the smart phone were convenient (Figure 23). Automatic LED lighting,
water spray, water pump and so on were included in the developed plant-care
intelligence included and so on. For instance, it was showed that the PlantTalk

Figure 22.
Neural network model inputs and outputs and training process.

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Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 23.
PlantTalk in a smart phone.

intelligence effectively lowers the CO2 concentration, and the reduction speed is
53% faster than a traditional plant system. AgriTalk for a plant factory is an exten-
sion of PlantTalk [18].

2.10 Other technologies used in hydroponic systems

It was applied ultrasound and dissolved oxygen supersaturation as external

for controlling the growth rate of plants in hydroponics as well as maintaining the
product quality. In the case of the leaf lettuce growth in hydroponics with exposure
to 28-kHz ultrasound and dissolved oxygen supersaturation up to 36 mg L−1 at
20°C and peak-to-peak pressure at 20 kPa or larger worked as the growth inhibitor
of the leaves and the roots; in addition, oxygen supersaturation became a growth
promoter, without any degradation of chlorophyll in the leaves [19].
On the other hand, liquid separated reactor and a high voltage power supply
based on a 20 kHz inverter neon-transformer were developed to archive the treat-
ment with high energy efficiency, a low initial cost and a low running cost. The
performance of the system on bacteria inactivation in the nutrient solution was
evaluated in a continuous treatment system operation and the results showed that
the standard plate count for background microflora and R. solanacearum is drasti-
cally reduced by the plasma treatment and is not detected after 8 days treatment.
The nutrient solution was decontaminated by 4 log cycle with plasma treatment
under the continuous operation condition [20].
Other researchers applied electro-degradation (ED) to the culture solution
in order to degrade their root exudates and improve growth, yield and quality
of strawberry. They used four types of nutrient viz. renewed, non-renewed,
non-renewed with direct current electrodegradation (DC-ED) and non-renewed
with alternative current electro-degradation (AC-ED). Fresh 25% standard Enshi

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nutrient solution were changed every 3 weeks interval, with in renewed treat-
ment, while DC- and AC-ED treatment were applied in non-renewed solutions.
Significantly greater fruit yield (225.9 g plant−1) was obtained from renewed nutri-
ent solution, which was statistically similar to fruit yield in non-renewed solution
with AC-ED application. Compared to renewed solution, fruit yield was decreased
to about half (114.0 g plant−1) in non-renewed solution while non-renewed with
DC-ED produced intermediate yield between non-renewed and renewed solu-
tion or non-renewed with AC-ED. It was concluded that growth performance
was greater in renewed solution followed by non-renewed with AC-ED, while it
was decreased significantly in nonrenewed solution with DC-ED similar to non-
renewed solution. It was also observed a similar trend in vitamin C content while
brix and citric acidity was not varied. Calcium and iron concentration in the culture
solution were significantly decreased in DC-ED, consequently their contents
were also found lower in crowns and roots compared to other solutions used. The
strawberry yield and quality can be improved through application of AC-ED in
non-renewed solution [21].

3. Robotics in hydroponic systems

3.1 Robot with position-based visual feedback (RPBVF)

RPBVF was developed to act and observe the crop in NFT hydroponic systems.
The focus is on the implementation of a position-based visual feedback (PBVF)
algorithm in combination with a Microsoft Kinect. AmHydro 612 NFT production
unit was 1.8 m × 3.65 m × 0.9 m production unit that stored 144 plants and 144
seedlings and used a closed loop water system. Above the NFT system were placed
artificial lights to improve the lettuce growth. The gullies laid on an inclined table,
which angle was θ, so that water flows passively to the end of the gullies. Water
was collected at the end of the gullies and directed to the water reservoir, where a
water pump propelled water to the top of the gullies. To manipulate the plants, the
robot (Figure 24) was designed as a gantry with four v-groved wheels running on
two inverted angle iron tracks (x-axis). On top of the gantry was a carriage that can
move back and forth over the gantry (y-axis), this was perpendicular to the x-axis.
On the carriage was a mechanism to move an arm up and down (z-axis), down
being the negative direction. At the end of the arm was placed a two degrees of
freedom gripper which opened, closed and rotated around the y-axis.
The structure is made primarily from aluminum that allows the robot to be
adjusted to accommodate different sizes of NFT hydroponic systems. The x-axis was
driven by a stepper motor and a chain. A timing belt transmitted the power from the
carriage on the gantry to the stepper motor. The arm on the carriage was balanced by
a counterweight and was driven by a stepper motor and a chain. Two linear actua-
tors were used to open and close the gripper and the other linear actuator was used
to rotate the gripper around the y-axis. All three linear actuators were driven by a
12 DCV relay board that communicates with a Phidgets interface board, which was
connected to the main computer, which was running Ubuntu Server 11.04 × 64. The
Kinect vision system was mounted on the carriage so that the optical axis was along
the negative z-axis. All software was programmed in C++. Every hardware compo-
nent communicated with its own ROS (Robotic Operating System) node. The main
hardware nodes were stepper motor node, gripper node, interface board node, posi-
tion node and Kinect node. The position node keeps track of the x, y and z-position
of the robot and a graphic user interface was designed to provide low level control
of the system. A Microsoft Kinect camera was added to the system, which produced

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Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Figure 24.
Robot manipulator arm.

two kinds of images, a 640 × 480-pixel RGB color image and a 640 × 480 pixel 11-bit
(0–2047) gray scale depth image that was provided by an Infra-Red (IR) sensor. The
extraction of the plants required combining classical 2D image analysis techniques
and IR-based depth measurement the 3D position. The computer language used was
C++ using the Open Computer Vision library. The Kinect was placed on the carriage
and is facing downwards (negative z-axis) to ensure the plants in its field of view
are at a maximum distance of 1.5 m, because the accuracy of the Kinect decreases
quadratically with distance. Up to 1.5 m the accuracy was 10 mm and the precision of
the Kinect was 1 mm. The field of view was of 0.8 m × 1.15 m in x and y-direction. It
was used a RPBVF algorithm was used to detect plants on the hydroponic system and
placed the robot to manipulate plants (Figure 25).
In the algorithm, first were detected the gullies, because the plants are only
located on them. All gullies are oriented along the x-axis and are straight. A
probabilistic Hough Transform was used for straight line detection. By filtering the
detected lines, the edges of the gullies were identified. After the identification of
the edges, the lines were grouped, resulting in a segmentation of the gullies. After
filtering, the coordinates of the plants in the image frame were known. Point was
defined as the top left corner of the image. The depth information was extracted
from the depth image by getting the value at point. The OpenNI driver transforms
the IR sensor values into distances in meters by using a fitting function. To reduce
the noise, multiple consecutive frames were averaged to calculate the plant coordi-
nates. The plant coordinates form the control input for the robot. The output only
depends on the current state and the control input. The open loop control algorithm
was used. To be able to pick up a plant, the image frame coordinates had to be trans-
formed to gantry coordinates. To transform the image frame coordinates to gantry
coordinates a Garstka and Peters modified transformation was used. Because the
Kinect is not located on the gripper, all coordinates have to be offset. These offsets
are dependent on the position of the Kinect relative to the gripper. The z-coordinate
has to be offset by an extra value, because the NFT table is under an angle of 2.2°. In
this transformation, the point is the principal point in pixels of the depth sensor and
the focal lengths in pixels were calculated. The values were quantified by calibrating
the Kinect. The position bias was removed by a linear scaling of the x and y-coor-
dinates. To evaluate the performance of the positioning and control algorithm, the
x, y and z-position error between the final position of the gripper and the plant
coordinate was measured. The final position of the gripper was defined as 20 mm
above the center of the cup. On the top of the cup a cross-hair is drawn to mark
the center. The initial position of the gripper is defined as the middle between the

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Figure 25.
Hardware layout of the robot (a) and software layout of the robot (b).

points of the gripper so the x, y and z-position error can be measured. Each image
was analyzed to detect the plants. With these coordinates the robot is heading to the
plant. The position error was measured with a ruler at the final stopping position
and robot then returned to the same starting position. The gripper must be ±15 mm
in x-direction, ±20 mm in y-direction and ±10 mm in z-direction from the center of
the cup to allow the robot to pick up the plant. From the images with detected plants
the gantry coordinates of the plants were calculated and inputted for the position-
ing algorithm so that the robot can be positioned to pick up the plants. There were
25 samples evaluated. The performance of the system is within the requirements
and the plants could be manipulated on an NFT system [22].

4. Conclusions

It is expected that future developers can to detect acidity levels of pH solution,

viscosity, oxygen and other variables. The future work will be collecting environ-
mental data, which are obtained from sensors and implanting an artificial intel-
ligence in robots and in hydroponics systems.
It is also expected that in future research make the hydroponics systems and
robots able to make information panel with other operating systems that can be
used as a standard system.

Acknowledgements

AILM was supported by PAICYT (CT696-19) and JMMJ was supported by

PAICYT (CT571-18). We thank the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexican
Ministry of Education, as well as Mexican Council for Science and Technology for
their support.

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Hydrocultural and Hydroponics Systems

Author details

Alejandro Isabel Luna Maldonado*, Julia Mariana Márquez Reyes*,

Héctor Flores Breceda, Humberto Rodríguez Fuentes,
Juan Antonio Vidales Contreras and Urbano Luna Maldonado
Departamento Ingeniería Agrícola y de los Alimentos, Facultad de Agronomía,
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, General Escobedo, Nuevo León, Mexico

*Address all correspondence to: alejandro.lunaml@uanl.edu.mx

and julia.marquezrys@uanl.edu.mx

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Automation and Robotics Used in Hydroponic System
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90438

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