Design and Development of a Smart Plant Assistant

Abstract

This paper presents the design and development of a Smart Plant Assistant, an IoT-based device designed to support urban gardeners, plant shop owners, and hobbyists in monitoring plant health through real-time data and automation. The system integrates a solar-powered ESP32 microcontroller with a soil moisture sensor, DHT22 temperature-humidity sensor, BH1750 light sensor, OLED display, and a mobile application. A mini water pump controlled via relay enables automatic irrigation, while a Wi-Fi camera offers remote visual monitoring and helps detect plant infections. The mobile app includes a dashboard for managing multiple plants, real-time alerts, and care tips. Developed using a structured product design process—from user research to prototyping and testing—the system is modular, scalable, and adaptable to different garden sizes. Supporting 4–6 plants per device, it is cost-effective, compact, and encourages better plant care habits. Ultimately, it bridges the gap between manual gardening and smart agriculture by providing a comprehensive and sustainable solution for modern plant care.

Introduction

Gardening supports well-being and sustainability but is challenging for urban dwellers and busy individuals due to inconsistent care and limited knowledge. The Smart Plant Assistant addresses these issues by using low-cost IoT sensors (soil moisture, temperature, humidity, light) combined with a mobile app for real-time monitoring, alerts, and care tips. The system supports multiple plants (4–6 per device), is solar-powered, and designed through a human-centered approach involving user research, prototyping, and testing.

A literature and market review highlighted gaps in existing single-plant, battery-powered devices that lack scalability and outdoor suitability. The Smart Plant Assistant’s modular design integrates ESP32 microcontroller, various sensors, an OLED display, and a relay-controlled water pump for automation, all powered sustainably. Its mobile app allows users to track multiple plants, receive notifications, and manage watering schedules.

The project also emphasizes flexible plantation layouts suitable for balconies, terraces, and small farms, ensuring optimal sensor coverage and solar exposure. Overall, the Smart Plant Assistant offers an affordable, scalable, and user-friendly solution for modern smart gardening needs, bridging traditional care with automation and digital monitoring.

Conclusion

The Smart Plant Assistant demonstrates a promising solution for simplifying and automating plant care for urban gardeners, plant enthusiasts, and small-scale growers. The integration of environmental sensors, automatic irrigation, remote monitoring, and mobile app connectivity provides users with actionable insights and reduces manual dependency. Testing confirmed the system’s reliability, energy efficiency, and usability across varied plant setups. Looking ahead, the project offers scope for improvements such as waterproof casing for long-term outdoor use, integration with AI-based plant disease detection, and expansion of app features like calendar-based scheduling and plant-specific care databases. Further development can also explore compact PCB design, Bluetooth fallback, and compatibility with smart home systems to elevate the Smart Plant Assistant into a fully connected plant care ecosystem.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Sobina Soibam, Bala Vignesh. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.