Top 20 team in the 2018 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at the University of Utah. lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec

1. Widget
Colin Pollard // Isaac Bromley-Dulfano

2. • Fresh water supply is finite
• Current irrigation/sprinkler controllers don’t account for
environmental changes
• Agricultural and other industries waste a lot of water due to
inefficiency
• Current alternatives (using sensors and weather) are
inaccessible due to price & complexity
• Lack of cooperation between farmers and researchers

3. o Create a product that can adapt to changing weather and
environmental conditions to adjust watering schedules.
• Use low-cost sensors and open source software & hardware
• Combine sensor data with local weather forecasting
• Create algorithm to use data to change watering patterns
o Allow for connectivity between devices, allowing for scalable use.
o Upload data to cloud, giving researchers a real time view of farms
• Study optimal growth conditions
• Observe effects of climate change on plant growth in different locations
• Provide a standard product allowing for agricultural testing and observation

4. 1. Farmers & Agricultural companies
a) Large farms with outdated technology
b) 3rd world farmers with limited resources
2. Golf courses, College campuses (municipal applications)
3. Consumers (lawns, gardens, etc.)
4. Researchers

5. To keep our product low-cost and easy-to-use, we relied on many open-source
alternatives: NodeMCU (controller), moisture sensors, temperature/humidity sensor, and
sunlight sensor. It is also self-powering (solar) and has wireless capabilities.

6. We used another open-source resource to gather and process our data.
We relied on blynk.io to upload data directly from our sensor to an app,
and from there we could access weather data to adjust watering control.

7. Product Price Use Local
Sensors
Sensors
included
Use Weather
Data
Application Open Source
Hydrawise > $340 NO NO YES Home/Garden NO
Racchio > $200 NO NO YES Home/Garden NO
Rainbird > $150 NO NO YES Fields/Lawns NO
Farm Solutions > $450 YES NO YES Farm NO
Water Widget $80 YES YES YES Scalable
(Universal)
YES
These represent a handful of different solutions that work on a close-
sourced structure, making them too complex, expensive, or inapplicable
to many customers.