Brown lawns may turn green again if weather forecasters are correct in predicting a strong El Niño with heavier than average precipitation throughout California this fall and winter. At the same time, residents are urged to conserve.
Enter the promise of a device named Mist, branded as the “world’s smartest sprinkler system,” watering just the right amount in times of plenty and saving 80% in drought mode.
We heard about Mist from Menlo Park resident David Barry, who in addition to his job at Flex, works as an advisor to early stage hardware companies. He’d been investigating the hardware startup market for a Costa Rica company, when he was introduced to the people behind Mist, which is incubating at Radicand in Redwood City. The start up is in its final days of crowding funding on Indiegogo.
“The money will go to generating the tooling so parts can go into production,” he explained.
Mist works by monitoring the water saturation level in a lawn through the use of probes and and automatically optimizes irrigation for each part of your yard while using up to 50% less water.
“What I like is that there’s an app for your phone,” Dave said. “It’s a pain to go into your garage or wherever to turn on various sprinkler zones. With the app, you can be standing in a zone and turn it on. You can use it for various watering needs – lawn, vegetables, roses, bushes, wherever.”
Intrigued about Mist? You view a demo video and another on how it’s impervious to mowers.
Photo by Linda Hubbard (c) 2015
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