Time for one pass over all trays–

Passes possible in a 16 h light period–

Crew hours saved per week (simplified)–

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Interactive 3D · 4 min

How a robot tends a lunar greenhouse

A carriage rides a rail over the plant trays, stopping at each one to photograph the crop and give it a measured dose of water. Software compares the images over time to flag wilting, disease or slow growth, so the crew only steps in when a tray needs them. The time it saves is simple arithmetic: tray checks per day times the minutes a person would have spent on each.

Controls

Labels

Animation speed

Plant trays

Imaging time per tray

Longer for multi-angle or spectral imaging.

Crew time per manual tray check

Step through it

Trays under a railPlants grow in trays on two benches inside an inflatable greenhouse. A rail runs above them so one robot can serve every tray without touching the floor.
Stop and imageAt each pair of trays the carriage stops and its cameras photograph both rows at once. Comparing today's images with yesterday's shows growth rate, leaf color and wilting.
Dose waterAfter imaging, a nozzle gives each tray a measured amount of water. The robot logs how much went to which tray, which also helps track crop water use.
Long imaging, fewer passesSet imaging to 600 s and 24 trays. One pass now takes over two hours, so the robot manages fewer than 8 passes in the light period.
Crew time savedIf a person would check each tray twice a day, the robot takes over those checks whenever it can make at least two passes. More trays and longer manual checks mean more hours freed.

The pass arithmetic

One pass visits N divided by 2 stops because the carriage carries two camera heads, one over each bench. At each stop it spends the imaging time, about 10 s dosing water and about 6 s moving to the next stop. Pass time is the number of stops times that sum.

Passes per light period is 16 hours divided by the pass time. Crew hours saved assumes a person would otherwise check every tray twice a day, so it is trays times 2 times minutes per check times 7 days, divided by 60. This is a simplified planning model: it ignores time the crew still spends reviewing flagged trays and fixing the robot.

Try it: set 24 trays and slide imaging time from 120 s to 600 s. Pass time grows from about 27 minutes to more than 2 hours, yet crew hours saved stay the same because the robot still fits in two passes a day.

Why crew time is the scarce resource

Studies of plant based life support for space have long noted that growing, tending and harvesting crops could eat up a large share of astronaut working hours. Automating routine monitoring and watering leaves people free for the jobs only they can do, such as diagnosing a sick plant or repairing equipment.

Where Avid uses this

Avid's agricultural robotics work and its HydroVzn autonomous drone platform tackle the same job on Earth: imaging crops on a schedule so people spend time only where plants need help.

Sources

Robotics in a controlled, ecological life support systemNASA Technical Reports Server (Purdue University authors)
Prototype Lunar/Mars GreenhouseUniversity of Arizona, Space Systems Engineering Laboratory

How to cite this model

Avid Solutions International. (2026, November 11). How a robot tends a lunar greenhouse [Interactive 3D model]. Avid Field Lab. https://avidsolutionsintl.com/explore/plant-tending-robot

Last updated November 11, 2026

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