Beautiful Italian Espresso Machine Converted Into an Automated Garden
With a built-in pump and water reservoir, this unused appliance was repurposed as an indoor plant grower.
As demonstrated by this project's write-up, espresso machines have nearly everything you need to build a smart garden. Not only do they have a water reservoir and a pump, the tray that normally catches errant coffee can instead be used to hold soil for your plants. All that’s required, of course, is a bit of hacking!
To adapt a forgotten and non-working appliance to these new purposes, “ThePlantBot” first disconnected the heating element, then embedded a soil moisture sensor, Arduino Nano clone, and relay modules. LED lights were also implemented, making it not only look nice (nicer), but capable of growing plants anywhere in the house, not just next to windows.
Light is controlled on a schedule, turning it on for most of the day, and off for a shorter period. Bluetooth operation, with a browser-accessible interface, was added via an HC06 module, allowing parameters to be easily changed and light and water to be manually adjusted. There’s even a small OLED display to show info outside of the browser interface.
Code for the project is available on GitHub, while a ton of info on the build process can be found in its blog post. You can see the beautifully-simple browser interface here as well.
[h/t: Reddit]