Malang (22/8), Smart Garden is the latest innovation from Electrical Engineering students at Muhammadiyah University of Malang which was officially introduced to the public through the Capstone Expo Project program, on Friday (14/07/2023). Equipped with various superior features, Smart Garden technology is considered capable of effectively increasing the productivity and efficiency of plant cultivation, both from the household to the industrial scale.
The concept of Smart Garden is not a new term, especially in the world of plant cultivation. Unfortunately, of the various technologies previously designed, various shortcomings are still found, so they cannot yet be an effective solution in increasing the productivity of plant cultivation. "Current Smart Garden technology still tends to be expensive, bro, with a price range of 5-6 million with only 1 or 2 features, so the problems that can be solved are very limited," said Viky Firmansyah, head of the group that initiated this Smart Garden. Seeing this reality, Viky felt that there was a need for innovation in the form of concrete solutions to the problems experienced by plant cultivators today.
The Smart Garden technology initiated by Viky and friends is equipped with various superior features, starting from monitoring water levels, soil moisture, nutrient and water levels in the soil, adding nutrients, and automatic timed watering. Apart from that, this technology has also been developed in such a way that it can be used on various media, including fruit plants in pots (tabulampot) and plants grown using soil media.
Viky and his colleagues also developed an application that can access and manage all the features of this Smart Garden technology so that they can be activated whenever and wherever as needed, without being constrained by place and time. The application provides a wide range of feature options that can be set and used according to user needs. These various advantages make Smart Garden technology a concrete solution to the needs and problems of current plant cultivators.
The product that was born from the Smart Garden idea has enormous potential if it is developed properly. However, at this time Viky assesses that there are still a number of deficiencies that need to be corrected again in the process of developing this technology. The man who was born in Wonogiri said, "Currently the biggest challenge is still production costs because the raw materials alone can reach 4 million, not counting the equipment production process."
He also added that the selling price tends to be expensive if this product is mass-produced and marketed. Viky said "If we sell it, maybe we can make a profit of around 10 million. With the features we offer, it's actually still very worth it, but I feel that production costs can still be reduced further so that the price is more affordable," said the student from the Electrical Engineering study program.
Viky also expressed his hopes regarding Smart Garden technology so that it would not just stop at the Capstone Project Expo program. Viky also expressed his confidence in the potential of this product to then be developed and able to become a product that is ready to be marketed, so that its benefits can be felt by more people.
