While Trees for Albania main focus is on reforestation, we are combining technology in our tree nurseries and planting areas to improve our operations in the nurseries and monitor key environmental indicators affecting tree growth. The collected data allows us to make decisions and conclusions based on real data.
We started developing our AgroBOT system in 2023 to help us monitor soil moisture of the first year saplings in our Fushe-Lurë tree nursery. We needed information on how much to water the saplings as we use reusable growing trays instead of traditional plastic bags and we had problems with over-watering and under-watering. The prototype version of the AgroBOT worked in Fushe-Lurë for more than a year fully powered by solar energy and a small battery.
The first prototype gave us a lot of useful data and insights which we used to develop next version of AgroBOT. We needed to address issues with connections, corrosion and hardware reliability in harsh mountains. These electro mechanical issues were the biggest challenge, the software, sensors and data collection worked very well.
We started working on the second version of AgroBOT in 2024 with a goal to address the issues of the prototype and expand its functionality. Because our tree nursery in Voskopojë is in a remote location and without any power source, we needed to the system to automate irrigation while being fully autonomous and powered by solar energy.
To address the electro-mechanical issues we developed a custom PCB and used industrial enclosure which is compatible with DIN rail mounting which allows us to easily integrate the system into existing electrical panels. We developed custom irrigation control module which allows us to control up to 4 irrigation zones independently using latching solenoid valves.
One of the important functions of AgroBOT system is a weather station which allows us to monitor the environmental conditions in each of our tree nurseries and close by reforestation areas. We are able to monitor temperature, humidity, rainfall and atmospheric pressure.
New addition to the AgroBOT system is a air quality monitoring which provides information about the air quality in the rural areas and small villages. We are currently monitoring CO2, PM2.5, PM10, VOC Index and NOx Index values. Locations equipped with air quality monitoring are Tirana and Fushë-Lurë, which provides comparison between urban and rural areas.
Key functionality of the AgroBOT system is a irrigation automation which allows us to automatically control and schedule irrigation in our nurseries. The system additionally allows for monitoring of the irrigation parameters such as flow rate, pressure and total volume of water used for irrigation. Irrigation data are available for Voskopojë tree nursery.
Additionally the system monitors the device telemetry for diagnostic purposes such as temperature, GSM signal strength and other parameters.
