STEMinds
Environmental Sensing
Elecrow
Eduponics Mini v2.0
Give your plants what they need with this next-generation, ESP32-based, smart-agriculture IoT kit
STEMinds
Environmental Sensing
Elecrow
Eduponics Mini v2 is a smart-agriculture IoT board built around the popular ESP32 microcontroller. It features a number of sensors, including those for temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, ambient light, water level, and soil moisture. Thanks to its energy efficiency and built-in support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, Eduponics Mini v2 is equipped for real-world IoT applications.
We provide industrial-grade products at an affordable price, whether you’re looking for an automatic-watering solution, a ready-made irrigation system, a research tool, or educational hardware capable of collecting highly accurate sensor data. Version 2.0 of Eduponics Mini series brings with it dramatic improvements, including more memory, more sensors, a brand-new four-channel valve-extension board, and a 4-pin Grove-compatible interface that accommodates sensors from popular brands like Elecrow Crowtail. Eduponics Mini v2 also comes with a hackable mobile app that leverages the MQTT protocol to give you remote control over your plants from wherever you might happen to find yourself.
Applications for Eduponics Mini v2 include:
We have made a number of significant improvements since we released the previous version of Eduponics Mini:
The Eduponics Mini v2 Kit includes the Eduponics Mini v2 board and multiple accessories, including:
We have replaced the previous, third-party contactless water-level sensor with our own custom-made sensor to bring down the price for backers who need additional sensors. (Having multiple water-level sensors is extremely useful for applications where you need to measure both top and bottom water levels, for example, or where you need to monitor various level indicators, such as 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% full.)
Creating our own contactless water-level sensor will also help us ensure that all kits ship on time as it allows us to avoid delays caused by third-party suppliers.
We’ve also created a brand new Eduponics product: the Four-Channel Valve-Extension Board, which provides additional IO support while also giving you control over an external valve so you can redirect water to whichever plants need it the most.
We’ve worked hard to develop a custom extension board that includes the extremely accurate ADS1115 ADC and the MCP23017 IO-extension IC, but our previous extension board had 3-pin XH-2.54 interfaces, which weren’t compatible with popular analog available sensors.
In addition to adding HY-2.0, Grove-compatible interfaces for more integration and support, we’ve also fixed a wiring issue in the previous version of this extension board.
| Eduponics Mini v2 | Smart agriculture kit | EcoDuino | Smart Plant Care | Gardening Add-On Kit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | STEMinds | ELECFREAKS | DFRobot | Seeed Studio | STEMpedia |
| MCU | ESP32 | MicroBit | ATmega | None | None |
| Soil-moisture sensor | Yes (custom design) | Yes (corrosive) | Yes | Yes | Yes (corrosive) |
| Extension IO pins | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bluetooth/BLE | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Environmental sensors | BME280, QMP6988, SHT30 | DHT11 | DHT11 | DHT11 | None |
| Low-power operation | Supports deep sleep | No | No | No | No |
| Protective enclosure | STL files provided | No | Yes | No | No |
| RTC module | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Ambient-light sensor | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Water-level sensor | Yes | Yes (corrosive) | No | No | No |
| Mobile IoT app | Yes (Eduponics app) | No | No | No | No |
| Indicators | RGB LED | OLED Display | OLED Display | OLED Display | Blue & Red LEDs |
| EEPROM | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Support for battery & solar power | External module | No | No | No | No |
| Open source | Schematic+SW+STL | SW | SW | HW+SW | SW |
| Programming languages | Arduino, MicroPython | Arduino, MicroPython | Arduino C | Arduino C | Arduino C |
| USB interface | Type-C | Micro-USB | Micro-USB | None | None |
| Supported extensions | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Grove compatible | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Documentation | Complete (Arduino & Python) | For the MicroBit IDE | Minimal | Varies | Minimal |
| Kit price | $70.00 | $59.99 | $53.90 | $59.90 | $54.00 |
While looking for soil-moisture sensors to use with our kit, we found ourselves struggling. The sensors we were finding just weren’t good enough! We purchased and tested multiple sensors and eventually decided to make our own. As you can see in the comparison below, our sensor has the highest voltage range and sensitivity between all the sensors we’ve tested, allowing you to create a stable and precise high resolution smart agriculture and IoT applications.
| STEMinds (Short) | STEMinds (Long) | DFRobot | Grove Seeed studio | Generic v1.2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of sensor | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive |
| Operating voltage | 5 V | 5 V | 3.3 - 5.5 V | 3.3 - 5 V | 3.3 - 5 V |
| Min voltage output | 0.987 V | 0.561 V | 2.468 V | 2.378 V | 1.022 V |
| Max voltage output | 3.3 V | 3.3 V | 3.112 V | 3.570 V | 2.300 V |
| Min output value | 154 | 106 | 260 | 494 | 214 |
| Max output value | 668 | 683 | 517 | 745 | 480 |
| Output resolution (max - min) | 514 | 577 | 257 | 251 | 266 |
| Operation current | 7 mA | 7 mA | 5 mA | 8 mA | 6 mA |
| Grove compatible | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Sensor price | $7.67 | $8.33 | $5.90 | $5.90 | $1.6 |
We’ve created over 15 detailed lessons to help you get started with Eduponics Mini v2. You can find these tutorials, which are available for both Arduino IDE and MicroPython, in our official documentation. The documentation is open-source and anyone can contribute to it by submitting a pull request.
Hardware schematics and 3D models of the Eduponics series and the Eduponics Mini v2 enclosure will be available in the Eduponics Mini GitHub repository. Our code is entirely open source (under the MIT license) and available for anyone to use, distribute, or modify. While Eduponics Mini supports both MicroPython and Arduino IDE, MicroPython is currently given a higher priority. Arduino Platformio is officially supported as well.
STEMinds products are manufactured by our trusted partner Elecrow. We have produced several prototypes in Elecrow facilities, done significant testing, and planned out a manufacturing and execution plan for once the campaign reaches its end. Elecrow is a company with years of experience, a great reputation, and deep knowledge of manufacturing, testing, packaging, and global shipping.
We have already secured critical components. By the time our campaign reaches its conclusion, we will be in a position to begin manufacturing and testing immediately so that we can deliver our products to backers on time.
After our production run is complete, we will box everything up and send it along to Crowd Supply’s fulfillment partner, Mouser Electronics, who will handle distribution to backers worldwide. You can learn more about Crowd Supply’s fulfillment service under Ordering, Paying, and Shipping in their guide.
There’s no doubt about it, building hardware is challenging and risky. The most common challenges faced by hardware manufacturers are component-availability issues, faulty parts, PCB fabrication defects, and design flaws, among other pitfalls. With our previous campaign, we faced multiple challenges, including undetected layout issues, supplier oversights, component shortages, and drastic price increases. We were able to overcome all of them, and we trust our team, our process, and our partners to do the same, if necessary, for Eduponics Mini v2.
Eduponics Mini v2.0 is STEMind’s second campaign, and our primary concern is producing a quality product and providing our backers with a positive experience. We will do everything in our power to deliver your Eduponics Mini v2 boards as quickly and reliably as possible, no matter what challenges arise.
"This IoT board is equipped with useful sensors in agricultural apps such as temperature, humidity, soil moisture, etc."
"The new board builds upon the Eduponics Mini introduced two years ago, but based on the 8MB flash version of the ESP32-WROVER-B module, a different mix of sensors, a BM8563 RTC module replacing the DS1307 RTC chip, and the addition of Grove connectors"
"Designed to provide your plants with what they need this next generation ESP32-based smart agriculture system is now available from just $40"
"With the help of this ESP32-based, next-generation smart-agriculture IoT kit, you can manage your plants."
Produced by STEMinds in Eilat, Israel.
Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.
Everything you need to build your own DIY smart garden, including an Eduponics Mini v2 ESP32 dev board, a water-level sensor, a soil-moisture sensor (short), an HY 2.0 cable (for the soil-moisture sensor), a 12V/2A power supply, a water tube, a pump, a water regulator, and a USB Type-C cable.
ESP32-based smart-agriculture and IoT development board
Three Long v2.0 Soil-Moisture Sensors. Includes a 50 cm HY 2.0 cable
Three Short v2.0 Soil-Moisture Sensors. Includes a 50 cm HY 2.0 cable
Three STEMinds contactless water-level sensors. Includes a 50 cm HY 2.0 cable
Eduponics Mini v2.0 extension board with IO extension and precise external ADC
Eduponics Mini v2.0 valve extension board. Includes external 4-channel water valve
Open source, programmable, eight-key keypad with backlighting, underlighting, and OLED screen
A simple, battery-powered, pocket-sized, open-source parts counter for 8-mm cut tape and partial reels
A tiny, mighty ESP32 development board
