Farmshelf has created a fully autonomous system that allows individuals, residential communities, and restaurants to grow food on-site, creating an urban farming space.
To create, test, and improve their unique hardware and software platform, they extensively use the Ultimaker 2+ printer, which allows them to make many design improvements for large modular custom parts systems that would otherwise require a lot of time and money to outsource.
Although the Farmshelf team clearly knows what they need to achieve with their flagship product, the engineering of an autonomous process involving living organisms is a tough challenge.
In addition to meeting the strict engineering requirements for each part and subsystem, they also need to produce a large number of custom plant housings, mounting brackets, and more.
They also need to test these parts by continuously harvesting these edible plants. Traditional manufacturing methods not only mean spending a lot of money – making it impossible to successfully cultivate a company in this way – but any mistakes in traditional manufacturing would cost the garden's value and crops months of time.
Freedom to Design and Change
As Andrew Shearer, CEO and founder of Farmshelf, he realized early on the value that 3D printing technology could bring to his business.
He says: "As a company, you can think of 3D printing as a way to get more people involved in the building process, and more involved in the prototyping and dreaming process, thanks to how easy it is to use."
Andrew Shearer checks plant pods
By integrating Ultimaker printers into their design process, Farmshelf is able to customize and reshape custom parts on-site.
Thus, they reserve challenging production requirements to meet necessary functions, using them to design early prototypes of their planned plants.
Instead of rolling the dice to determine the success or failure of each round of custom parts for the company, Farmshelf found a solution that was economically feasible at every stage from prototype to production. 3D printing meets all the needs of design and laboratory research.
"When we were prototyping all these parts, Ultimaker proved to be a great solution.
For all our different needs from prototyping to small-batch production of parts, this technology has allowed us to accelerate our timeline and keep the company moving fast. Building hardware is always difficult, but Ultimaker makes it much easier."
Close-up of Farmshelf plant pods
With in-house 3D printing, the Farmshelf team only bears the cost of prototype parts.
Outsourcing would incur costs for materials, suppliers, and services, as well as a bottleneck process of waiting for a new round of custom part changes, slowing everything down.
Farmshelf product designer Jaesong Yi said: "Without an Ultimaker printer, we would have to use off-the-shelf components and design our product around those parts." Or worse, we would have to machine parts in large quantities using CNCs, which would be a time-consuming and costly process. Having an Ultimaker machine allows us to proceed with the design process.
Product Expansion and Installation
The conclusion is a direct reward for the Farmshelf design team. They can not only customize parts quickly and efficiently, but also have functional prototypes that can be tested throughout the entire plant pod growth cycle. In turn, product expansion is a more efficient and money-saving process, allowing the team to install and showcase beta models in various high-profile public places without affecting the budget.
Farmshelf plant pod design loaded into Ultimaker Cura
"Simply put, the Ultimaker 3D printer allowed us to create early Farmshelf prototypes," said Farmshelf botanist Gabe Benton.
"Because the number of plastic parts we use in the system is custom, I can't even imagine how many millions of dollars it would cost us to manufacture these parts without them."
Custom parts printed on Ultimaker 2+
After saving time and money producing plant pods and various parts, they seized an unexpected opportunity a few months ago to share their product with the world.
The Farmshelf team was invited by world-renowned chef Claus Meyer (Noma co-founder) to install a fully functional Farmshelf unit in the heart of Grand Central Station in New York City.
This experiment proved very successful, with Meyer's Agern restaurant at Grand Central being able to harvest microgreens and some leafy greens directly from these prototypes.
Inspired by this early success at Grand Central, they continue to expand on their initial concept and innovate to create a bright future for urban farming.
Original source: https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/52419-farmshelf-cost-effective-custom-parts-for-an-urban-farm-system