Vertical farms are all the rage, yet these systems are often expensive, messy, and utterly impractical for most urban dwellers. The Robotic Urban Farm System (RUFS) by Better Living Through Robotics improves on nearly every shortfall of the typical system: It uses very little water, no soil, and is made from accessible, affordable parts, with instructions free online.
The brilliance of the RUFS DIY tutorial comes in the excellent use of everyday hardware store goods. The two key structural elements are just about perfect for their use: a plastic downspout you’d find on a gutter to host the plants and PVC pipe for a frame. The small amounts of water that you do use run on a closed loop, meaning that anything which drains down to the bottom of the garden is collected so it can be used again.
via Gizmodo
