PROJECT TYPE:

• Scientific research project

PROJECT DURATION:

• 1.10.2025. – 30.9.2029.

PROJECT LEADER AND TEAM MEMBERS: 

• Associate Professor Siniša Sovilj, PhD (principal investigator), Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Engineering
• Associate Professor Krešimir Pripužić, PhD, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb (FER)
• Associate Professor Zvonko Kostanjčar,PhD, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb (FER)
• Dalibor Fonović, MSc. Eng., Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Engineering
• Dario Kukuljan, M.Ed. in Informatics and Pedagogy, University Computing and Information Center (SRIC)

SHORT PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The project aims to explore the potentials of integrating an Internet of Things (IoT)-based computer system for plant cultivation in a controlled atmosphere with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which has so far been identified as an unexplored gap in scientific or professional literature.

The demonstrative IoT pilot platform, developed so far at UNIPU, includes a robotic system for managing and monitoring climate, energy, and plant growth within a specialized, isolated hydroponic growth chamber. The climate variables monitored and controlled include: carbon dioxide level, air temperature, humidity, dissolved oxygen in the substrate, pH, electrical conductivity, root zone temperature, and numerous other variables that can be digitally tracked and controlled inside the closed growth chamber to achieve different plant phenotypic expressions (e.g., various flavors, aromas, sizes, etc.). Records of grown plants are stored in the Cloud as so-called "climate recipes" for future regrowth or public sharing of cultivation recipes with others.

The expected contribution also includes scientific publications, development of new, open algorithmic and open hardware solutions for research or education, and the creation of new research infrastructure for Juraj Dobrila University of Pula.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

The main goals of the project are:

1. to create new, more robust Java/Kotlin programming code with expanded capabilities compared to the existing unstable and outdated solutions of the globally known but closed MIT OpenAG project and to make it open again, active, and publicly available via a GitHub repository, thereby increasing the visibility and recognition of the TFPU faculty and UNIPU university;
2. to create a new, scalable mechanical solution for the IoT smart plant cultivation platform, supported by 3D modeling and construction, as well as a new electronic-hardware design, whose technical documentation would also be open and publicly accessible;
3. to contribute to the integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as a new, non-existent feature in smart plant cultivation systems.

Achieving these goals will enable a new, more robust, scalable method of plant cultivation, with the possibility of advisory interaction with the generative artificial intelligence system, whose full potential in IoT systems is yet to be explored.

PROJECT HOLDER: Juraj Dobrila University of Pula