Validation of smart systems for healthy office plants
Our client transforms traditional plant maintenance into a high-tech service. The problem associated with traditional plant management is often twofold: plants die due to dehydration or overwatering, while at the same time there are unnecessary service trips made. The challenge was to develop a system that not only keeps the plants alive, but also fully digitalizes the management process.
Measuring is knowing: The sensor grid
NiftyBits has converted this vision into a Proof of Concept that can be applied to both existing plants as well as new green projects. The universal plug-and-play sensors are placed in the plant pots to measure the actual water usage. This data is synchronized in real-time with a custom-made cloud solution. Through an intuitive dashboard, the user gets instant insights into the status of each plant, its exact location within the building and its maintenance history. To ensure optimal plant health, the software is equipped with an intelligent alarm system that sends a notification as soon as a plant reaches the ‘danger zone’.
Predictive Maintenance & AI
The core of the innovation in this pilot is the intelligence behind the data: the ‘machine learning’. The system is trained to recognize usage patterns of specific plant pots based on plant location within the building, the season, and weather conditions. This makes it possible to accurately predict when a plant pot needs to be refilled, before levels become critical. During this test phase, we are optimizing this algorithm to generate maintenance routes based on actual needs. Routes for the plant care workers are automatically generated, reducing CO2 emissions and lowering costs of operation.
