Looking to optimize processes in their hydroponic farming operations, Grow + Gather had the foresight to see beyond basic automation technology and find solutions for fully autonomous operations. Autonomy goes beyond the automation of specific tasks.
It uses a learning model and feedback loop to continuously evolve and optimize processes to meet particular requirements. More than simply optimizing their existing hydroponic farm, autonomy would allow Grow + Gather to standardize their existing process and offer turnkey installations of hydroponic farming deployments.
To effectively franchise their hydroponic farming, Grow + Gather understood that the main hurdle was the lack of automation expertise on site where the systems would be deployed. They needed the ability to have fully autonomous operations, as well as remote access to systems, to monitor operations and deploy updates and changes centrally. Though automating individual controls has become standard practice across various industries, genuine autonomy allows "lights off" operations without human oversight. This challenging task requires a model with context awareness and a complete understanding of implementing a "data factory" that rapidly evolves the model.
Automation for Farmers, not Automation Experts
Automation expertise is expensive and in high demand. To realize their vision of on-site hydroponics deployments to meet customer demands, Grow + Gather needed the ability to manage automation from a central location remotely. This "automation for farmers" would allow the on-site expertise to focus only on necessary produce production functions.
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