PlantPal: Leveraging Precision Agriculture Robots to Facilitate Remote Engagement in Urban Gardening

TL;DR

PlantPal addresses barriers to urban gardening by enabling remote, on-demand access to a shared precision agriculture robot (FarmBot) augmented with a four-camera system and a web-based interface. The system supports three control modes (Manual, Hybrid, Automated) and digitally augments garden visualizations (time-lapse, growth circles, timelines) to maintain engagement. A 3-week field study with 18 participants on an 18 m² bed shows successful cultivation across plots, increased connectedness to personal fields, and positive usability and experience ratings, with insights on how automation level affects engagement. The findings yield design considerations for future PAR-enabled urban gardening concepts emphasizing exploration, risk as a design element, sustainability, and rich digital augmentation of growth processes.

Abstract

Urban gardening is widely recognized for its numerous health and environmental benefits. However, the lack of suitable garden spaces, demanding daily schedules and limited gardening expertise present major roadblocks for citizens looking to engage in urban gardening. While prior research has explored smart home solutions to support urban gardeners, these approaches currently do not fully address these practical barriers. In this paper, we present PlantPal, a system that enables the cultivation of garden spaces irrespective of one's location, expertise level, or time constraints. PlantPal enables the shared operation of a precision agriculture robot (PAR) that is equipped with garden tools and a multi-camera system. Insights from a 3-week deployment (N=18) indicate that PlantPal facilitated the integration of gardening tasks into daily routines, fostered a sense of connection with one's field, and provided an engaging experience despite the remote setting. We contribute design considerations for future robot-assisted urban gardening concepts.

Figures (10)

• Figure 1: An illustration showing the hardware components of PlantPal. We installed a PAR (FarmBot) on a real garden bed and extended its camera system (originally including only the borescope camera) to provide multi-view monitoring (cameras A, B, and C). FarmBot executes gardening tasks using various tools held in a tool bay at a fixed location on the garden bed.
• Figure 2: FarmBot moves on a track-based setup as shown in a). This allows for movement across three dimensions: X-axis movement in b), Y-axis movement in c), and Z-axis movement in d).
• Figure 3: The universal tool mount (UTM) component on FarmBot (a) allows to establish an electrical and magnetic connection to a variety of tools that can be used to execute gardening tasks (b))
• Figure 4: An overview of the PlantPal web application. It is optimized for mobile use to make it accessible on demand. a)The global field view provides an overview of all fields on the PlantPal field. Users can use scrolling and dragging gestures to zoom into other gardeners' plots and review what they have planted. b) Similarly, a personal field view is provided that is focused on the execution of gardening tasks, designing a garden layout, and reviewing progress. c) At any time, users can active a live stream that enables real-time monitoring from three different perspectives. Displaying the live stream at the bottom allows for parallelization between virtual and real-world aspects. d) Using the timeline, users can review their own decisions or, if they chose a higher automation level, the action that the PAR performed during their absence. e) Lastly, a chat was implemented as a way for conflict resolution between gardeners and to support social interaction more broadly.
• Figure 5: The degree of detail and realism regarding field visualizations can be dynamically adapted. a) shows how a photo grid overlay can be visualized for the global field. Similarly, b) showcases this for a personal field plot.