Issue 12/24

Students Build Small Robots for School Garden

[Translate to Englisch:]
Jürgen Beckmerhagen

Sören Leonhardt, 33 years old, began teaching computer science at the Waldorf School in Frankfurt/Oder in the fall of 2022 as a newcomer to Waldorf education. In February 2024, he received a permanent teaching license after successfully completing a teaching assessment. He teaches 15 to 18-year-olds at the Waldorf School for 45 minutes a week according to the curriculum. Many students think they already have everything they need to learn: a smartphone and the ability to fish information from the internet. But their professional future seems uncertain. «A student once said to me: ‹My mother thinks I should be grateful because I have everything I need. But I already know that I will never reach my parents' standard of living.›» Everyday life in German schools, you might think.

Michel Garand, horticulture teacher at the school, told Leonhardt about a so-called Farmbot: a robot for precision farming on a small scale, ideal for beds, allotments or the school garden. The Farmbot travels on rails over the bed, measuring, sowing, weeding and watering – and taking photos of the plants in the process. It takes over routine tasks – and can tend beds when people are on vacation.

Leonhardt is enthusiastic. Together with Garand, he develops the vision of precision agriculture that goes far beyond the optimization of cultivation processes. The idea is to document every step of food production transparently and unalterably in a blockchain, therefore a continuously expandable list of data records in individual blocks. This would allow consumers to track how many kilometers a food product has traveled, how much water it needed, when it was sown and harvested and under what environmental conditions, such as soil moisture or pH value, it was grown. This transparency could strengthen trust in food production and give consumers a deeper understanding of their food.

«Let's found a start-up,» suggests one student. «Start-up? Do you know what that means? Starting a company without capital sounds exciting at first. But that's just the beginning.» Leonhardt thinks back to his own experiences: Discipline, diligence and the often monotonous work that goes with it. It's not enough just to have the idea – the key lies in constantly working on the implementation.

Three months later, in November 2023, the training fair and the Sparkasse (a financial institution) in Eisenhüttenstadt are organizing an innovation competition. Prize money: 1,000 euros. «That would be perfect start-up capital,» says Leonhardt. «But we have to present our idea as convincingly as possible.» The students are enthusiastic. But how do you present an idea whose future is uncertain? Hope and positive thinking are the keys.

The students in the four classes research how others before them presented business plans and won over investors for their ideas. They comb through the media, question sources, sort and analyze the information. Step by step, they develop their own plan – colorful, creative and promising. Now all they need is one or two volunteers to take to the stage and present their idea. These are also found. In November 2023, the eleventh and twelfth grade students travel to the training fair. Two of them stand in front of an audience of strangers with damp hands – and win! The innovation prize, 1,000 euros, goes to the computer science students from the Waldorf School in Frankfurt/Oder. Next, a group photo is taken with the branch manager of the Sparkasse bank, who wants a Farmbot prototype for the foyer.

1,000 euros is a good start, but a Farmbot with all the add-ons costs more. Leonhardt, Garand and the students have big plans. Leonhardt goes through the list of plastic parts: Cable tray spacer for 2.85 euros, seed container for 6.65 euros, universal tool holder for 28.50 euros. The list is long. «It's all just hard plastic, and there are free 3D CAD models with the original dimensions,» he thinks to himself. «Why should we spend 10 dollars on a container when we can print it ourselves?» He suggests making some components with the 3D printer. The students get started: they draw, measure and create 3D models on the computer. They realize that the Farmbot works with its stepper motors in a similar way to a CNC milling machine or a 3D printer.

A student wonders how the Farmbot can avoid watering when it rains. His suggestion: instead of a fixed watering interval, the robot should use the weather forecast from a reliable weather service. The Farmbot's Linux computer provides a suitable interface. But how do you write a script that retrieves the weather data and transfers it to the controller? Even Leonhardt has never done anything like this before. A group of students took up the challenge and asked ChatGPT for help. They generate a script to process the weather forecast, analyze it, adapt it and continue experimenting. The problem is solved – in the future, the Farmbot will only water when necessary

This school year, Leonhardt is converting cargo racks into mobile workbenches. The students will build small Farmbot prototypes on them in groups. His goal is for the twelfth graders to experience a working prototype before they graduate. «The road is still long and challenging,» says Leonhardt. But he remains optimistic – for him, getting there is the most important thing anyway.

Leonhardt emphasizes another important aspect of his teaching: networking with local companies. Without the support of NetSys24 and ComService GmbH, both young digital companies from Frankfurt/Oder, the project would not have been possible. These companies provide the school with decommissioned hardware, which Leonhardt and his students repair together. They install free software such as Ubuntu. The students learn that even older devices are perfectly suitable for everyday use. Leonhardt is now hoping for a larger donation to invest in a more powerful 3D printer that can be used to produce more robust components.

In the end, the students benefit from the project with their very different skills. Leonhardt explains: «Those who enjoy presenting flourish. Those who enjoy working in groups find it exciting. And those who prefer to solve logical problems are challenged. Everyone finds something that suits them.»

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