Difference between revisions of "Team:Newcastle/Safety"

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                <h3>Alternative Roots</h3>
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                     Safe Project Design
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                <h1>
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                     Hardware
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                         Our Project
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                         Guide
 
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                         Contact Us
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                 <h3 class="subhead subhead--dark">Hello There</h3>
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                 <h3 class="subhead subhead--dark">Stage One</h3>
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                 <h1 class="display-1 display-1--light">We are Alternative Roots</h1>
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                 <h1 class="display-1 display-1--light">Design</h1>
 
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                 <p class="about-para">Sustainability is a topic of increasing concern in the fields of agriculture, food security and rural development. There is a dire need for innovation in this field; primarily driven by predictions of substantial global population increase coupled with severe pressure on non-renewable resources. The result is a necessity to increase food production whilst reducing our impact on the environment. As such, our aim is to find sustainable solutions that address some of these issues. </p>
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                 <p class="about-para">Once the project idea was finalised, the team began looking for cheap, efficient and standardised methods for growing plants in iGEM. The hope was that such an item existed that would meet these specifications as well as being a closed container to prevent contamination and also providing a high throughput of plants. It was soon established that such an item did not exist to meet our specifications. Therefore, to combat this issue, it was decided that the best way forward would be to design our own hydroponics system. This would allow us to grow large amounts of Arabidopsis in a controlled setting for the purposes of our project. Several team members were assigned to this “sub-project”.</p>
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                 <p class="about-para">Nitrogen-fixation for fertilizer production is extremely energy-intensive, accounting for 80% of energy use in agriculture. This is due to the high temperatures and pressures involved in the Haber-Bosch process. Nitrogen is essential for plant growth but cannot be directly accessed from the atmosphere by plants despite its abundance. If an alternative to fertilizers could be developed to provide nitrogen for plant growth that is cheap, easy to use and sustainable, then energy use in the agriculture sector could be greatly reduced.</p>  
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                 <p class="about-para">Before getting hands-on in building the system, the team as a whole established a few design parameters. For example, the system needed to be cheap and easy to build from scratch. This is so future iGEM teams are able to construct the system for their own needs and even build upon our design, as necessary. Additionally, the system must be versatile, open-source and easily adapted for various conditions such as light intensity and wavelength. By adopting such an open and adaptable design the intention is that the end-user is able to effortlessly match the system to their needs, without getting entangled in streams of code.</p>  
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<p class="about-para">In 2018, Team Newcastle aim to engineer microbes for sustainable agriculture. The team shall build upon Newcastle University’s long and illustrious history in agriculture and food security research by engineering root colonising microbes. The microbes will attract bacteria that modify the soil's composition including nitrogen content, in a fashion that is suitable for uptake by plants via the roots.</p>
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                <p class="about-para">Several weeks were spent modifying the design until a design was found that met all the above criteria, the specifications of the design can be seen below.</p>
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                 <div class="stats__count">10</div>
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                <h5>UP TO</h5>
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                 <h5>BILLION PEOPLE WILL</h5>
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                 <div class="stats__count">1344</div>
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                 <h5>INHABIT EARTH BY 2050</h5>
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                 <h5>SEEDS CAN BE GROWN</h5>
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                 <h5>IN HYDROPONICS</h5>
 
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                 <div class="stats__count">83</div>
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                <h5>APPROXIMATELY</h5>
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                 <h5>MILLION EXTRA PEOPLE</h5>
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                 <div class="stats__count">70</div>
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                 <h5>NEED TO BE FED EACH YEAR</h5>
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                 <h5>KWH OF POWER ANNUALLY</h5>
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                 <h5>USED TO POWER SYSTEM</h5>
 
                  
 
                  
 
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                 <div class="stats__count">842</div>
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                <h5>PROVIDES UP TO</h5>
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                 <h5>MILLION PEOPLE SUFFER</h5>
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                 <div class="stats__count">1700</div>
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                 <h5>FROM HUNGER WORLDWIDE</h5>
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                 <h5>LUX OF LIGHT</h5>
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                 <h5>TO GROW SEEDS</h5>
 
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                 <div class="stats__count">200</div>
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                <h5>CONTAINS</h5>
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                 <h5>MILLION TONNES OF</h5>
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                 <div class="stats__count">120</div>
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                 <h5>FERTILIZER USED ANNUALLY</h5>
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                 <h5>INDIVIDUALLY ADDRESSABLE</h5>
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                 <h5>LOW-POWER LED'S</h5>
 
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                             <h3 class="subhead">2018</h3>
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                             <h3 class="subhead">Stage Two</h3>
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                 <h1 class="display-2">The Newcastle Team</h1>
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                    <h3 class="h2">Luke Waller</h3>
 
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                    <p><br> Luke’s my name, Conner is my game. I am the engineering part Conner wants to intertwine with. Having finished my
 
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                    third year I am staying on at Newcastle to complete my masters, hopefully getting into robotics.
 
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I took this role as I wanted to explore an avenue of engineering I was not familiar with and work with a multi-disciplined team. </p>
 
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                    <p style="font-size:100%">Having identified the design parameters for the system, the next stage was to begin ordering parts and putting it together. The system was divided into three independent, functional sub-systems to make the task of assembling the system more manageable and allowing team members to focus on the sub-system that most suited their specialty. These three sub-systems were hardware, software and biological aspects.</p>
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                     <p style="font-size:100%">The function of the hardware is to contain the electronics and organisms, power the LED’s/microcontroller and maximise the light available to the plants. Containment is through the use of a sealed box, with a detachable lid for access. This box is glued with tin foil and sprayed black to minimise exchange of light with the environment. Powering the LED’s proved to be more difficult, taking our engineers many days to find the optimal solution. You can find all the grizzly details on this process here. However, essentially the system is powered from a 5V 2.1A AC adapter that plugs straight in to your mains power supply. Alternatively, you can use 4 AA batteries to power the system for short periods of time if necessary. The LED’s are wired in parallel so the same light is provided along the length of the container. This can be seen from images in the Gallery.</p>
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                     <p style="font-size:100%">The purpose of the software is to control the LED’s, by allowing the user to easily adapt features such as light intensity, wavelength and also specify the length of the day/night cycle. For our design, we use the Arduino UNO microcontroller to control these characteristics as it offers a user-friendly interface and is well-suited to our design. You can find all the code laid bare and a guide to the Arduino here.</p>
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                     <h3 class="h2">Frank Eardley</h3>
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                    <p><br>I am a 4th year MBiol Cellular & Molecular Biology student. I joined iGEM
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                    for the opportunity to work with students from other academic fields and learn
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                    more about synthetic biology. Outside of my degree, I am a scuba diving instructor
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                    and enjoy jumping in the North Sea whatever the weather.</p>
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                    <h3 class="h2">Will Tankard</h3>
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                    <p><br>I’ve just completed my second year as an Architecture student. iGEM was a step
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                    into the dark for me, the last time I did anything biology related was during my GCSE’s.
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                    I’m interested how the architecture and biology disciplines can merge. Synthetic Biology
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                    offers a new perspective on design starting with a bottom up approach.</p>
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                    <h3 class="h2">Heather Bottomley</h3>
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                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/b/ba/T--Newcastle--WC230718.png">
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                     <p style="text-align:center"><br>The engineers, hard at work trying to troubleshoot issues with the system.</p>
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                     <p><br> Heather's the name, not doing the wiki is my game. I've just finished my                  third year of MBiol Cellular and Molecular Biology. I joined iGEM as an opportunity to formulate
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                    a novel idea and work in a multi - disciplinary team enhancing my biological knowledge.</p>
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                    <h3 class="h2">Connor Trotter</h3>
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                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/e/e5/T--Newcastle--Hydroponicssystem.jpeg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hydroponicssystem.jpeg">
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                     <p style="text-align:center"><br>The finished product, set to a rainbow function that cycles through various wavelengths of light</p>
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                     <p><br> Connor is the name, getting my name misspelled is the game. I'm currently entering my third year
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                    of Biology which has, so far, been fuelled by an excess of caffeine and binge watching a lot
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                    of Rupaul's Drag Race. I joined Newcastle's team to apply what I have learned in a unique fashion by intertwining elements of Engineering and Architecture into biological concepts.</p>
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                    <h3 class="h2">Patrycja Ubysz</h3>
 
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                    <p><br>I'm Pat, no game with my name. Just finished first year of Chemistry, I
 
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                    probably liked it too much. I believe being interdisciplinary is crucial for research, especially
 
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                    in Synthetic Biology. I want to contribute to the team using my chemical/physical approach. I
 
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                    love working in the lab, however, would be happier without microbes. Basic coffee addict, bad
 
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                    experience with BBQ parties. Probably follow every single NASA team account on Twitter.</p>
 
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                    <h3 class="h2">Lewis Tomlinson</h3>
 
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                    <p><br>Name: Lewis. Likes: llamas, guinea pigs, rock hyrax, all other animals, molecular biology, dungeons and dragons, science fiction and fantasy.
 
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                    Life goal: llama sanctuary (including birds and rodents).</p>
 
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                    <h3 class="h2">Sadiya Quazi</h3>
 
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                    <p><br>Sadiya’s the name, which most can’t pronounce (despite it being totally phonetic). Just completed first year of Chemistry after switching from Fine Art,
 
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                    and yes, it’s been a huge change, as people always exclaim when I tell them. Both benefit from having that alternative perspective and this is what drew me to
 
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                      iGEM - working as part of a very cross-disciplinary team.</p>
 
 
                      
 
                      
 
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                    <h3 class="subhead">Stage Three</h3>
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                     <h3 class="h2">Umar Farooq</h3>
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                    <h1 class="display-2 display-2--light">Test</h1>
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                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/8/84/T--Newcastle--Umar.png">
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                     <font size="4" font face="verdana" font color="green">Substantial time was spent carrying out extensive research, both inside and outside the lab, in order to optimise the system for the target audience. This included speaking with organisations and individuals in industry who are involved with hydroponics-based systems or those who may be interested in working with such a system in the future. Some of the individuals we liaised with include Chris Tapsell, the Research Director of KWS UK, one of the biggest seed companies in the world, and Richard Ballard, co-founder of Growing Underground in London where they hydroponically grow micro greens and salad leaves 33 metres below the ground. These potential clients helped us focus our product so that it can better meet the needs of our clients.</font><br><br>
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                    <p><br>I'm Umar, a 1st year undergraduate studying Automation and Control Engineering. I joined IGEM for the
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                     <font size="4" font face="verdana" font color="green">In addition to gathering external opinion on our system, we also did our own tests on system performance. This included tests to verify the optimal light intensity, wavelength and positioning. The graph below illustrates how the light intensity (measured in lux) varies over time (in seconds) when the system is operated under various wavelengths of light. The black line indicates the system running with the rainbow function loaded which cyclically varies the light wavelength. As the results showed that blue, red and purple light and provided the most lux we are currently using these in the system but plan to use the rainbow function too in future to see how this affects growth or the aesthetics of the plant.
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                    opportunity to work alongside a multi-disciplinary team and develop my skills outside of engineering. When
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<br><br>
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                    I'm not working on the project, I like swimming, playing the guitar and eating cake. Addicted to bad
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</font>
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                    jokes, allergic to onions.
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/b4/T--Newcastle--LuxGraph.png/800px-T--Newcastle--LuxGraph.png">
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                    <h3 class="h2">Chris Carty</h3>
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                    <p><br>I’m Chris, 2nd year Architecture student, discovered iGEM when beginning my dissertation in the area  of Bio-Materialism. I want to take organisms that have been designed at the genetic scale and design them for use at the human scale - aiding the transition from biologically inspired to biologically engineered design. Better at architecture than Will.</p>
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     <!-- clients
 
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                 <h3 class="subhead">Our Sponsors</h3>
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                 <h3 class="subhead">Hardware</h3>
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                 <h1 class="display-2">Newcastle iGEM is proud to be sponsored by:</h1>
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                 <h1 class="display-2">Gallery</h1>
 
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                    <a href="#sponsors" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/6/65/T--Newcastle--SAgELogo.png/600px-T--Newcastle--SAgELogo.png" /></a>
 
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                    <a href="https://bbsrc.ukri.org/" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/2/21/T--Newcastle--BBSRCSquare.png/600px-T--Newcastle--BBSRCSquare.png"></a>
 
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                    <a href="https://wellcome.ac.uk/home" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/be/T--Newcastle--Wellcomelogo.png/600px-T--Newcastle--Wellcomelogo.png"/></a>
 
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                    <a href="https://www.idtdna.com/pages" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/1/10/T--Newcastle--IDTLogo.png/600px-T--Newcastle--IDTLogo.png" /></a>
 
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                    <a href="https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sage/" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/4/42/T--Newcastle--Ibidi.png/600px-T--Newcastle--Ibidi.png" /></a>
 
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                    <a href="http://opentrons.com/" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/9/9a/T--Newcastle--OpenTronsLogoPNG.png/600px-T--Newcastle--OpenTronsLogoPNG.png" /></a>
 
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                    <a href="https://seedcell.co.uk/" title="" class="clients__slide"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/8/86/T--Newcastle--SeedCellSquare2.png/600px-T--Newcastle--SeedCellSquare2.png" /></a>
 
 
                      
 
                      
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                <!-- Slideshow container -->
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                    <!-- Full-width images with number and caption text -->
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                        <div class="numbertext">1 / 15</div>
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                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/0/04/T--Newcastle--Hardware1.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware1.jpg">
 +
                        <div class="text">The LEDs produce a variety of wavelengths of light</div>
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                    </div>
  
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        <div class="row clients-testimonials" data-aos="fade-up">
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                        <div class="numbertext">2 / 15</div>
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                <div class="testimonials">
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                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/4/4d/T--Newcastle--Hardware2.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware2.jpg">
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                        <div class="text">The LEDs produce a variety of wavelengths of light</div>
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                    </div>
  
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                     <div class="testimonials__slide">
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                        <div class="numbertext">3 / 15</div>
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                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/ba/T--Newcastle--Hardware3.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware3.jpg">
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                        <div class="text">The LEDs produce a variety of wavelengths of light</div>
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                    </div>
  
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                         <p>The iGEM Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education and competition,
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                    <div class="mySlides fade">
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                         and the development of an open community and collaboration. This is done by fostering an open, cooperative community and friendly competition.</p>
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                         <div class="numbertext">4 / 15</div>
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/0/08/T--Newcastle--HardwareMain.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--HardwareMain.jpg">
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                        <div class="text">The LEDs produce a variety of wavelengths of light</div>
 +
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/bb/T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png/600px-T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png" alt="Author image" class="testimonials__avatar">
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                    <div class="mySlides fade">
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                        <div class="numbertext">5 / 15</div>
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                            <span class="testimonials__name"></span>  
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/d/d8/T--Newcastle--Hardware4.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware4.jpg">
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                            <span class="testimonials__pos"></span>
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                         <div class="text">The LEDs produce a variety of wavelengths of light</div>
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                        </div>
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                    </div>
  
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                    <div class="mySlides fade">
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                        <div class="numbertext">6 / 15</div>
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                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/c/c4/T--Newcastle--Hardware5.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware5.jpg">
 +
                        <div class="text">The LEDs are wired in parallel</div>
 
                     </div>
 
                     </div>
  
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                     <div class="testimonials__slide">
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                         <div class="numbertext">7 / 15</div>
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                         <p>iGEMers are building a better world by solving problems with the help of synthetic biology.
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/e/e1/T--Newcastle--Hardware6.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware6.jpg">
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                         We inspire responsible innovation through our efforts in biosafety, biosecurity and public outreach.</p>
+
                         <div class="text">The LEDs are wired in parallel</div>
 +
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/bb/T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png/600px-T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png" alt="Author image" class="testimonials__avatar">
+
                    <div class="mySlides fade">
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                         <div class="testimonials__info">
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                        <div class="numbertext">8 / 15</div>
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                            <span class="testimonials__name"></span>  
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/b7/T--Newcastle--Hardware7.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware7.jpg">
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                            <span class="testimonials__pos"></span>
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                         <div class="text">The LEDs are wired in parallel</div>
−
                        </div>
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                    </div>
  
 +
                    <div class="mySlides fade">
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                        <div class="numbertext">9 / 15</div>
 +
                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/1/1e/T--Newcastle--Hardware8.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware8.jpg">
 +
                        <div class="text">The LEDs are wired in parallel</div>
 
                     </div>
 
                     </div>
  
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                     <div class="testimonials__slide">
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                         <div class="numbertext">10 / 15</div>
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                         <p> This global network is leading the field, taking what they learned in the competition and expanding it to continue to build a better world.</p>
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/7/7b/T--Newcastle--Hardware9.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware9.jpg">
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                        <div class="text">Container sprayed to reduce leakage of light</div>
 +
                    </div>
  
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/b/bb/T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png/600px-T--Newcastle--iGEMGrey.png" alt="Author image" class="testimonials__avatar">
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                        <div class="numbertext">11 / 15</div>
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                            <span class="testimonials__name"></span>  
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/7/7d/T--Newcastle--Hardware10.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware10.jpg">
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                            <span class="testimonials__pos"></span>
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                         <div class="text">External, exposed circuitry</div>
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                        <div class="numbertext">12 / 15</div>
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                        <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/0/06/T--Newcastle--Hardware11.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware11.jpg">
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                        <div class="text">Internal circuity is normally hidden but easily accessible</div>
 
                     </div>
 
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                        <div class="numbertext">13 / 15</div>
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                        <div class="text">LED circuitry</div>
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                <h3 class="subhead">Contact Us</h3>
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                <h1 class="display-2 display-2--light">Reach out for a collaboration or just say hello</h1>
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            <div class="contact-primary">
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                <h3 class="h6">Get Involved</h3>
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                <p><br>We are always happy to hear from individuals, groups or organisations that would like to support our project. If you wish to discuss a collaboration, sponsorship or if you just want to learn more about the project, please get in touch using the contact details on the right. Alternatively, if you would like to donate a small amount to fund our project, you can do so through <a class="link" href="https://experiment.com/projects/genetically-engineered-microbes-for-sustainable-agriculture" target="_blank">Experiment.com</a> - an online platform for discovering, funding, and sharing scientific research.
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<br><br>
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Any support is greatly appreciated and funds raised will be used in all areas of the iGEM project - such as lab equipment, human practices research, merchandise and travel to jamboree in Boston, USA.</p>
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                <div class="contact-info">
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                     <h3 class="h6 hide-on-fullwidth">Contact Info</h3>
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                     <div class="cinfo">
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                     <div class="mySlides fade">
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                         <h5>Where to Find Us</h5>
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                         <div class="numbertext">14 / 15</div>
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                         <p>
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/a/a0/T--Newcastle--Hardware13.jpg/800px-T--Newcastle--Hardware13.jpg">
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                            Devonshire Building<br>
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                         <div class="text">LED circuitry</div>
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                            Newcastle University<br>
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                            Newcastle upon Tyne<br>
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                            NE1 7RU
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                         </p>
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                     </div>
 
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                         <h5>Email Us At</h5>
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                         <div class="numbertext">15 / 15</div>
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                         <p>
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                         <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2018/thumb/4/4f/T--Newcastle--Hardware14.jpg/450px-T--Newcastle--Hardware14.jpg">
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                            igem.team@newcastle.ac.uk
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                         <div class="text">Circuitry to wire LEDs in parallel</div>
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Revision as of 10:26, 12 September 2018

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Alternative Roots/Hardware

Alternative Roots

Hardware

Guide Gallery
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Stage One

Design

Once the project idea was finalised, the team began looking for cheap, efficient and standardised methods for growing plants in iGEM. The hope was that such an item existed that would meet these specifications as well as being a closed container to prevent contamination and also providing a high throughput of plants. It was soon established that such an item did not exist to meet our specifications. Therefore, to combat this issue, it was decided that the best way forward would be to design our own hydroponics system. This would allow us to grow large amounts of Arabidopsis in a controlled setting for the purposes of our project. Several team members were assigned to this “sub-project”.

Before getting hands-on in building the system, the team as a whole established a few design parameters. For example, the system needed to be cheap and easy to build from scratch. This is so future iGEM teams are able to construct the system for their own needs and even build upon our design, as necessary. Additionally, the system must be versatile, open-source and easily adapted for various conditions such as light intensity and wavelength. By adopting such an open and adaptable design the intention is that the end-user is able to effortlessly match the system to their needs, without getting entangled in streams of code.

Several weeks were spent modifying the design until a design was found that met all the above criteria, the specifications of the design can be seen below.

UP TO
1344
SEEDS CAN BE GROWN
IN HYDROPONICS
APPROXIMATELY
70
KWH OF POWER ANNUALLY
USED TO POWER SYSTEM
PROVIDES UP TO
1700
LUX OF LIGHT
TO GROW SEEDS
CONTAINS
120
INDIVIDUALLY ADDRESSABLE
LOW-POWER LED'S

Stage Two

Assemble

Having identified the design parameters for the system, the next stage was to begin ordering parts and putting it together. The system was divided into three independent, functional sub-systems to make the task of assembling the system more manageable and allowing team members to focus on the sub-system that most suited their specialty. These three sub-systems were hardware, software and biological aspects.

The function of the hardware is to contain the electronics and organisms, power the LED’s/microcontroller and maximise the light available to the plants. Containment is through the use of a sealed box, with a detachable lid for access. This box is glued with tin foil and sprayed black to minimise exchange of light with the environment. Powering the LED’s proved to be more difficult, taking our engineers many days to find the optimal solution. You can find all the grizzly details on this process here. However, essentially the system is powered from a 5V 2.1A AC adapter that plugs straight in to your mains power supply. Alternatively, you can use 4 AA batteries to power the system for short periods of time if necessary. The LED’s are wired in parallel so the same light is provided along the length of the container. This can be seen from images in the Gallery.

The purpose of the software is to control the LED’s, by allowing the user to easily adapt features such as light intensity, wavelength and also specify the length of the day/night cycle. For our design, we use the Arduino UNO microcontroller to control these characteristics as it offers a user-friendly interface and is well-suited to our design. You can find all the code laid bare and a guide to the Arduino here.


The engineers, hard at work trying to troubleshoot issues with the system.


The finished product, set to a rainbow function that cycles through various wavelengths of light

Stage Three

Test

Substantial time was spent carrying out extensive research, both inside and outside the lab, in order to optimise the system for the target audience. This included speaking with organisations and individuals in industry who are involved with hydroponics-based systems or those who may be interested in working with such a system in the future. Some of the individuals we liaised with include Chris Tapsell, the Research Director of KWS UK, one of the biggest seed companies in the world, and Richard Ballard, co-founder of Growing Underground in London where they hydroponically grow micro greens and salad leaves 33 metres below the ground. These potential clients helped us focus our product so that it can better meet the needs of our clients.

In addition to gathering external opinion on our system, we also did our own tests on system performance. This included tests to verify the optimal light intensity, wavelength and positioning. The graph below illustrates how the light intensity (measured in lux) varies over time (in seconds) when the system is operated under various wavelengths of light. The black line indicates the system running with the rainbow function loaded which cyclically varies the light wavelength. As the results showed that blue, red and purple light and provided the most lux we are currently using these in the system but plan to use the rainbow function too in future to see how this affects growth or the aesthetics of the plant.