What is the FarLabs growbox?
Two growboxes at FarLabs grow plants side by side. They are the same in every way but one: one growbox has a radiation source, and the other has a harmless blank the same size. Your class controls a chamber in each, from this page, and finds out what radiation does to growing plants.
The growbox: four chambers in a foam box, lights, cameras and sensors in every chamber, and a small computer underneath.
What it's made of
A foam box, four chambers
Polystyrene keeps each growbox dark and steady inside. Walls split it into four chambers, so one growbox runs four experiments at once.
Lights
Every chamber has its own strip of red, green, blue and white LEDs. It can make almost any colour, at the brightness and times you choose.
A camera in every chamber
Looks down at the plants and takes a photo every minute, day and night, for the time-lapse.
Three sensors in every chamber
One measures temperature and humidity, one measures brightness, and one measures the colour of the light.
A small computer
A Raspberry Pi computer runs the lights and the heat pads, reads the sensors, and sends everything to this website.
The radiation source
FarLabs fits a radiation source in one growbox and a same-sized inert blank in the other, so light and air are the same in both.
What it can measure
Every chamber, in both growboxes, every few seconds. The numbers below are live from chamber A.
Temperature
How warm the chamber is, in °C.
—Humidity
How much water is in the air, in %.
—Brightness
How bright the light on the plants is, in lux.
—Light colour
How much red, green and blue light there is, so you know the lights are doing what you set.
Checked by the colour sensorPhotos and time-lapse
A photo every minute. Play a whole experiment back in seconds.
—Plant growth
The camera counts how much of the plate is green, so you can see growth as a number.
—What you'll do
Plan
Make a class plan: radiation is the variable that changes, and your class can try one more.
Set
Apply your plan to your group's two chambers, one in each growbox.
Watch
Watch your two chambers side by side: live photos, graphs and time-lapse.
Share
Compare your radiation and control plants, then compare with the other groups.
What's in a growbox
Both are made with the same insulation, sensors, lights and other materials, so the only difference between them is the radiation source.
The growbox
The foam box and its four chambers, the plywood base with the computer and fan, a plate holder and a light rack in each chamber, the radiation source (yellow) under each plate, and a sensor board on each chamber's wall. The control growbox has a blank where the source is.
Sensors: how the growbox feels
A sensor measures something and turns it into a number the computer can read. Each chamber has a small sensor board on its wall, with three sensors on it. They report every few seconds, day and night.
Temperature and humidity
A tiny weather station. It measures how warm the air is (°C) and how much water is in it (%).
Brightness
A light meter. It measures how much light reaches the plants, in lux.
Light colour
An electronic eye. It measures how much red, green and blue light there is, to check the lights are the colour you chose.
Actuators: how the growbox acts
An actuator does something: it changes the chamber. The computer reads the sensors, compares them with your settings, and switches the actuators to match.
Lights
A loop of LEDs above each plate: red, green, blue and white. The computer mixes them into your colour, sets how bright they are, and switches them on and off at your times. The brightness and colour sensors check they're right.
Heaters
A small heat pad in each chamber. Like a thermostat at home, the computer switches it on when the chamber is cooler than your target and off when it gets there. It can warm a chamber, but it can't cool one below the room.
Experimental design
Plan your class's controlled experiment, then set your chambers.
Under development
The planning activities for this page are still being written. For now, make your class plan here, then go to Your settings.
Your class plan
Four groups share the two growboxes. Each group gets the same chamber in both, so in every group's pair the variable that changes is radiation. Your class can also change one growing condition, with a different value for each group, the same in both of its chambers. Everything else is a controlled variable.
Your settings
Your chambers' day. Whatever you set here goes to your group's chamber in both growboxes, so radiation stays the only difference.
Your chambers' day
Plan one day. Both of your chambers repeat it every day of the experiment.
Or mix your own:
Your light: Purple
Running in your chambers now
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Calibrate and test
Test and calibrate your lights and sensors.
Once your settings have been submitted, test and calibrate your chambers. Your teacher will need to approve your experimental design and submit the class's settings to each growbox before the experiment begins.
Under development
This page is still being written. It will let you check that your chambers' lights and sensors are working and reading correctly before you start your experiment.
Your chambers
Choose your group to see your two chambers.
Up to the last two weeks. Radiation in red, control in blue. If the lines for temperature and light sit together, those controlled variables really are the same.
How much of each plate is green, counted from the photos a few times a day. Radiation in red, control in blue.
The whole experiment, both chambers in step, at 60 photos a second.
Go back to any moment of the experiment: what each chamber looked like, what it measured, and what it was set to.
All chambers
Every chamber, live: the camera and its readings, updated every few seconds.
The control growbox isn't online yet
Its four chambers will show here, live and with their sensors, growth, time-lapse and time travel, once FarLabs connects it.
For teachers
This page is your class's window into two growboxes at FarLabs. Students plan a controlled experiment, set their chambers from here, and watch their plants grow live. There's nothing to build, wire or connect.
Approve your class's settings
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Each group saves its settings on Your settings. Check them here, then type the token and approve: the settings go to each group's chamber in both growboxes and the two-week run starts. Until then, Run your experiment stays greyed out.
| Group | Saved for approval | Running now |
|---|
What's different from the student growbox
- Hosted, not built. FarLabs assembles and runs both growboxes. Your class needs a browser, not a soldering iron.
- Two matched growboxes. One has a radiation source, the other a same-sized inert blank. FarLabs handles the source and its safety.
- Four chambers each. Each group gets the same chamber in both growboxes, so every group has its own radiation and control pair.
- Set from the class plan, approved by you. The class plan fills in each group's settings and Apply saves them. You approve them above, and they go to both of each group's chambers for a two-week run. (The rest of Experimental design is under development.)
The controlled experiment
- The variable that changes: radiation. Within each group's pair, it's the only difference.
- What's measured: how much of each plate is green (counted from the photos), or how many seeds sprout.
- Controlled variables: the plant, the plates and the number of seeds (FarLabs), and the group's light and warmth settings, which apply to both chambers.
- And one more: the class can give each group a different day length, temperature, brightness or light colour, and compare across the four pairs.