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From Sensor to Cloud: IoT Engineering Applied to Agriculture

MCPlant Art

Student: Adrián Alexis Rosa Juarbe
Advisor: Prof. Christian Rosado
Grade: 7-A
Course: Specialized Science
School: Escuela Especializada en Ciencias y Matemáticas Papa Juan XXIII
Date: October 6, 2025

Executive Summary​

Engineering and technology have transformed how we understand and care for plants. Previously, farmers relied solely on their experience to know when to water their crops, but now we can use electronic sensors that give us exact information about what the plant needs at any given moment.

This project was born from a simple question: Can we create a system that automatically monitors plants and shows us real-time data from anywhere in the world?

Working in a father-son collaboration (Alexis Rosa, AI Engineer at Lockheed Martin, and Adrian Rosa, 7th-grade student), we designed and built MCPlant - a complete system that combines:

  • SENSORS that measure soil moisture and ambient light
  • An ESP32 MICROCONTROLLER that processes the information
  • WIFI CONNECTIVITY that transmits data over the internet
  • A SERVER that receives and stores all information
  • A DASHBOARD where we can see real-time graphs

The system operates 24/7, takes measurements every few seconds, and can automatically activate a water pump when the plant needs it. During 60-90 days of continuous operation, we collect thousands of data points that allow us to understand exactly how the plant behaves under different conditions.

Project Areas​

This project allows me to explore multiple areas of engineering:

  • Electronics: circuit design and component connection
  • Programming: writing code in C++ and Python
  • Communications: internet protocols (WiFi, NATS)
  • Databases: storing and organizing large amounts of information
  • Visualization: creating interfaces to understand data

With my father's guidance and initial consultation from farmer Jordan Martínez from Finca Agroecológica Bohití, we transformed sensors and cables into a functional system that can monitor plants from anywhere on the planet and keep them hydrated.

Project Collaboration

This project was developed as a father-son collaboration, combining professional software engineering experience (Alexis Rosa) with student curiosity and perspective (Adrian Rosa). Consultation from Jordan Martínez (Finca Agroecológica Bohití) helped validate real agricultural requirements.