System Autonomy: Personal Indoor Farming and User Preference

Abstract

Increasing attention has been paid to Personal Indoor Farming since healthy, sustainable and home grown food supplies are emerging as a lifestyle trend. Although the existing appliances for personal farming are becoming more innovative, they have not had a large commercial impact. A possible reason is because of a lack of understanding of potential users. In this study, a preliminary interview with 31 users found that Personal Indoor Farming is perceived as a more emotional activity than food production. However, a contradiction was revealed between a desire to grow personal crops and fear of failing in cultivating them. Based on this insight, a taxonomy of autonomy level in Personal Indoor Farming was defined through literature review. Through the taxonomy, eight scenarios were generated from a designer workshop in terms of four autonomous levels and two extensibility levels. The scenarios were evaluated by 45 respondents in order to investigate the preferences of users according to the autonomous level. The results suggest that people prefer a mid-level of autonomy in farming products that support them in caring for their crops. To conclude design implications are proposed to support the design of more appropriate indoor farming products and product services.