Here’s a quick update on AutoMicroFarm happenings that aren’t product-related:

• Randy has come on to be a co-founder a few months ago. A year ago, Paul stepped down as a co-founder to focus more on his family, so I (Andrew) was flying solo for a bit more than a year.
  
• The crowdfunding campaign was able to raise a few hundred dollars. Thanks to all who contributed. We went forwards with building a prototype despite not raising the target amount of funds.
  

Back to product development: Recently, we were able to assemble the third AutoMicroFarm prototype. Here are a few pictures of the assembly process:

After we assembled the prototype, we tested it out by filling the top container (the vegetable bed) with water.

Unfortunately, our prototype experienced what engineers call non-catastrophic failure: the steel tubes under the vegetable slowly bent into an arc shape before kinking. There was no sudden collapse, so we were able to drain the vegetable bed and dismantle the top part of the frame that held up the vegetable bed.

Afterwards, we calculated what we should have figured out before building the system. This is what we found:

• Weight of 32 ft³ of water: 1997 lb
• Weight of 32 ft³ of water + gravel: 3464 lb
• Weight of 32 ft³ of water + sand: 4480 lb

So if we want to use sand as a media (advocated by someone who invented modern aquaponics as we know it), we would need to have a vegetable bed capable of withstanding up to 5000 lb of weight. Alternatively, if we’re able to develop mushroom root (mycelia) modules as an alternative vegetable bed media, we would need to design for about 1000 lb of weight in the vegetable bed.

We’re working with a mechanical engineer specializing in structural strength to determine a frame redesign strong enough for that range (1000 to 5000 lb). He was able to come up with several designs that would result in a frame strong enough to hold 5000 lb, and cost only slightly more than the current frame.

Our next steps are to finalize a stronger frame, put it together, and test it out. At the same time, we are starting to design experiments for the mycelia modules. Our goal (and deadline) is to have a fully-functioning prototype at the end of winter, so we can grow plants and fish starting in the spring.