FEATURED COMPONENTS
THE STARTERS KIT
The starters kit is everything a new gardener needs to grow his or her first plants. The starter kit consists of a growing tray, dried compost and the first seed paper. The kit is designed in such a way that it has implemented automatic watering system. This ensures that the plants won't dry out. The starters kit is unique compared to several designs that are already on the market. In addition, the unique thing about this growing tray is that the plant is able to stay in the tray for several stages, longer than it would in ordinary growing tray, so the user does not need to pot the plants. In this section the starters kit will be explained.
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ROOT STRUCTURE
The root structure is one of the most important things in the first stages of a plant. This is because the roots absorb water and nutrition. The root structure depends on the tray. There are techniques that encourage a good root structure. The technique that is implemented in this tray is air punning. This is a method were roots are effectively ´burned off’, when they get in contact with air, resulting in that the plant produces new healthy roots.
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GROWING TRAY
The growing tray is made out of 3 parts. All parts are made of polypropylene.
Part 1 is the outer shell that functions as the water container. The outer shell is 200x200x400 mm. The tray has this size to be able to place it on the windowsill. This will give the plants the ability to absorb enough sun.
Part 2 is the inner shell where the plants will be planted in. The inner shell has 6 places (‘fields’) for the plants to grow. Besides that a hole is made for the water supply, part 3 can be placed in the hole, this helps with the affordance to water the plants. The holes in the bottom of the tray provides the plant with water, besides that, the slots in the sides also provide water. However, the main function of the slot is air punning. Every time when a root reaches the slot, it will get in contact with air and it will die, this will encourage the plant to produce more new healthy roots. Furthermore, a QR-tag is placed on the top, this tag is used for the augmented reality scan. The application provides the user with information about the plant, for example how much water or sunlight the plant needs.
Part 3 is a funnel that can be placed on part 2, the funnel helps the user to fill the growing tray with water.
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MATERIAL
The material that is used is polypropylene. Polypropylene is used for a lot of products. The advantages of polypropylene are that it does not react with chemicals and other acids. Therefore, the tray will not leak after a certain period of time. Also, polypropylene is considered as a tough material, since that its elasticity is large over a certain range of deflection. It will retain shape after a lot of torsion, bending or flexing.
Polypropylene can be used for injection moulding, this is a process to mass-produce products. In addition polypropylene is relatively cheap.
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SEED PAPER
The seeds are integrated into the paper. The seed papers are made from craft paper, this is a material that is biodegradable. Every month a customer receives a new seed paper, which can be planted in the growing tray. One side of the paper is an information sheet and the other side are the seeds. One seed paper is delivered with the starters kit. An example of a seed paper is displayed on the right.
With every package of seeds a seed paper with infographics is send containing an all you need to know about growing that type of plant. This is done in a way that it is understandable for children. The information is an infographic that contains information about taking care of the plant, a did-you-know section with interesting information and a page where the seeds are placed. The infographic is colorful and written with as little words as possible to make it understandable for children, while also containing enough information for them to be able to grow the plants successfully. Furthermore, an instruction design on how to plant the seeds is displayed on the card. More information about growing the plant can always be found in the application.
The information sheets can be collected in a booklet and help the user if a tablet is not within reach. Besides that, it gives the children something tangible to collect.
Click here to read more about the instruction!
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DRIED COMPOST
The dried compost are tablets that absorb water after they absorbed the water they turn in fertile ground for the plants. The starters kit has 6 blocks, which can be placed in the shell, then water can be added. After a while, the block will absorb the water and the shell will be filled with fertile soil. The blocks provide the plants with nutrition. The blocks are rather small and can be easily transported
See the order-page on the right, if you click the image, you will automatically be taken
to a simulation. Try to order one of the boxes!
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
DETAIL PART 2
THE
SPROUT PLANT
AUGMENTED REALITY CONNECTION
An important part of the application is the ability to scan plants. Scanning plants allows you to upload your growing progression. With this you can compete with your (social) groups, for instance neighbours, friends, school classes. You are able to see who in your group grows their plants the fastest with the leaderboard. Not only can you upload your progression, the scanning feature is also used to help with growing the plant. This help is provided by augmented reality (AR). This means that the plant is displayed with additional information on your screen through your camera. Certain features of the plant are recognized by the plant and via AR that highlights them and when the user selects the object, he or she will receive a pop up message with more information. To save computing power, the user has to select what plant is being scanned. This is because it is hard to see/scan the difference between plants in the early stages. Now the application can determine details that are plant specific. General plant features that can be recognised are for instance: dry leaves, sagging leaves, yellowing leaves, dry ground, wet ground, flowers, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Through scanning the application can tell the user what to do to take care of their plants. A user story is described to make the process clear:
First, the user scans the QR-tag on the starters kit. Now the app ‘knows’ which kit is scanned. The user has to state what he or she has planted at the spot in the app. Now the app knows what plant has to grow in the field. The app will provide the user with information about the plant if the plant has already germinated and is visible above the soil. In addition, it will also provide information if the plant is not visible above the ground and would for example state that the user has to water the plant. The information is displayed by pop ups on the screen by AR. This means that the user can walk around the plant and still select certain features of the plant.
See the scan-page on the right, if you click the image, you will automatically be taken
to a simulation. Try it out!
THE
SPROUT APP
The application which is linked via the scanning and AR has a couple of importantfeatures.
There are 4 pages; the shop, competition, tips/tricks and plant page. The pages are
explained below.
First of all, there is a shop. At this page the user can select the seeds that he or she wants
to grow. These seeds will then be delivered with next months package.
Furthermore there is a competition page. At this page the users can compare each others
plants. The scan keeps track of the progress of a plant. This information can be shared and
compared to friends, family or other competitors. This challenges users to take good care of
their plants. Besides that it encourages users to promote the game to friends and family.
Moreover there is a general page with tips and tricks about every plant. The reason for this
is that some problems can be prevented and let the user know what to expect. For example,
how much effort and attention is needed to take care of the plant. The scan and AR already
provide enough information, however the Tips and Tricks page provides extra information
for users that are really interested in the plants.
At the plant page the user can select their plants. Here they can get an overview about it’s progression. When scanning the plant regularly, graphs about the growth of the plant can be created. Also, all previous scans can be seen here showing the plant’s growth in pictures. You can see how your plant became a full grown plant, starting from a small sapling. On the plant page there is also a detailed page about taking care of that specific plant. This page contains all the information you would ever need to know.
After a plant has lived its lifetime, if all goes well the person using the app has created multiple pictures of the plant growing. In an ideal case, the app will remember where the person stood while taking pictures before; this will give the same perspective in each picture. So, after all growing stages, a stopmotion video of the plant growth can be made. The idea behind this is that it will stimulate children to be patient, wait until the end result and see their growth afterwards.
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See the scan-page on the right, if you click the image, you will automatically be taken
to a simulation. Try it out!
