About
Built by growers, for growers
“We wanted automation tools that were affordable, hackable, and didn’t require a subscription to a cloud you don’t control.”
Automato started as a personal project — a need for affordable, reliable automation in a small hydroponic setup. Off-the-shelf solutions were either too expensive, too locked-down, or just not designed for the kind of DIY tinkering that makes growing fun.
So we built our own. The Sensor Board was the first result: an open-source ESP32 node with LoRa radio, a display, and enough I/O to connect almost anything. The Brain Board V2.0 is the next generation — smaller, faster, and wireless out of the box.
Everything we make is open-source hardware and software. The KiCad files, firmware, and docs are all on GitHub. If you find a bug, open an issue. If you build something cool, we’d love to hear about it.
Our values
What we believe in
Accessible technology
Growing automation shouldn’t cost a fortune. We keep our hardware affordable and our software free so anyone can build with it.
Radical openness
Every schematic, every line of firmware, every footprint — all public, all MIT-licensed. No black boxes, ever.
Local-first
Your data lives on your hardware. The dashboard runs on your board. You don’t need our servers running to keep your plants watered.
Community-driven
We build what the community needs. Open issues, pull requests, and forum threads shape the roadmap as much as anything we plan ourselves.
Hackable by design
Standard connectors, documented APIs, open firmware. Everything is designed to be modified, extended, and repurposed.
Practical sustainability
Efficient hardware with deep-sleep modes, solar-friendly power budgets, and long hardware lifespans reduce the footprint of automation.