The Vertical Farming project for Plenty Unlimited based in San Francisco, CA uses AI and robots to farm, utilizing 99% less land and 95% less water compared with conventional farming. The company’s farm is yielding enough produce to fill 720 acres of typical farmland, but they are doing it with just two acres of vertical farming. Plenty Unlimited says their farm produces 400 times more food per acre than the traditional farm. The automated robotic technology also means that besides the clear increased food production, vegetation can be produced without the use of pesticides and without the risk of extreme weather. Out of season plants can be grown close to home without adding the carbon footprint of transport.
Plenty Unlimited will continue to grow with a $400 million company investment from big names like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Eric Schmidt (Google) and SoftBank.
The robotic design is attached to the base housing. The robot arm grabs a row of seedlings and sticks them into a hydroponic planter. An even larger robot arm then flips the planter vertically and sends it to become one thin sliver of a 20’ tall wall of arugula, kale and beet leaves. Having a galvanized robotic base will last years to come without worrying about the durability of the coating system.
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