Your plant's best friend.
With horticultural lighting, automated watering, smart-home integration, and beautiful ambient lighting.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
January Update - Matter is Coming and more!
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Feb 01, 2023 at 11:22:21 AM
Hi Cura-tors,
How are you all? We're excited to bring this update as shipping gets closer.
Big News
We're evaluating implementing Matter smart-home standard - our team is pretty confident that this is possible and is likely. With Matter integration, you could set up CURA devices in a breeze and control plant lighting & watering, and manage ambient lighting across platforms and devices with ease, even through voice assistants.
logo by Connectivity Standards Alliance - buildwithmatter.com
Matter open-source standard is backed by all major manufacturers and is supposed to be the future of the connected home. Matter helps smart devices play nice with each other and does not force one to pick within Apple, Google, and Amazon ecosystems - they all work well together. All the enabled devices talk to each other across platforms without requiring cloud connectivity and run over Wifi, Bluetooth, and Thread layers.
https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-matter
https://www.theverge.com/23568091/matter-compatible-devices-accessories-apple-amazon-google-samsung
We have not joined the program yet, although the hardware is capable. If full functionality is not available at shipping, they could be enabled later through OTA. Fingers crossed on this one.
If any of our backers have expertise on this subject, let's talk, please write to [email protected]
Design
CURA went through a lot of design revisions prior to tooling, here is a snapshot of the top face. These minor changes add up to a ton of character, though it can be appreciated only when you see it in person. The clear body is notoriously difficult to photograph though!
product evolution
UI/UX
We have been toying with a circular UI design to go with the 360-degree plant care theme. It's too early in the process though.
UI moodboard
Fabrication
The design and specs for Floor mount and Table mounts are finalized and are in early testing. The wall mount needs to be developed. The all-new telescopic poles are also in testing.
prototype of Floor Mount & Table Mount with lateral adjustment to accomodate bigger planters
App/Firmware
We would share working demos on social channels later this month as we make more progress.
Good news:
CURA was chosen as one of Top10 modern gardens by Yanko Design 🏅
We shall have a support member routinely addressing comments from next week.
Overall, we're happy with the progress so far and the next update should have definitive shipping plans in place.
Cheers!
Arun
November Update - getting closer
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 09:54:51 PM
Hi Cura-tors
How's everyone doing?
This is a short progress update as CURA gets closer to reality. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed!
Here's a summary
1. All the tooling is well under progress - the Aluminum upper & Polycarbonate lower, silicone diffusers, for lights and pump, and both the water reservoirs are well in progress.
2. The Mounts have been converted into Aluminum, they now have lateral movement to accommodate much larger planters. Their design is more sophisticated yet appears simple and light. The telescopic poles are in tooling, with a revised shape across five diameters.
3. We have been testing LEDs for both grow lights and ambient lighting, the latter is not finalized yet.
4. PCB designs have made some progress with some more prototypes, but decision-making is delayed due to difficulties in sourcing certain components- hoping to finalize this soon.
5. CURA Pump motors have been in testing, yet to finalize the production version.
6. The App and firmware are also making steady progress, and will gain momentum once components are procured.
In a nutshell, all mechanical components are making solid progress, while electronics, app, and firmware are tied to finalizing the components, which is happening on a war footing.
Our next update should have a more definitive path to the shipping schedule. We will have photos included for all items, and you would be pleasantly surprised with the product evolution from prototypes in the campaign to retail-ready consumer products :)
Keep it growing!
Team Altifarm
PICO Max update- Shipping had slowed over the last couple of months, as we ran out of the first batch of 2000 units. We had to redesign the PCB and modify firmware as chips were scarce. The good news is that the next batch of 500 units is getting ready to be shipped out.
August Update - CURA wins Design Award!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Sep 01, 2022 at 07:53:55 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
July Update: Backer-Kit Surveys are Out
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jul 09, 2022 at 03:14:35 AM
Hi there,
How is everyone doing here today?
We got back to work post the campaign, and are finalizing the CAD design for manufacturing. Production planning is underway and we have sent the Backer kit surveys to finalize the quantities for each item. If you haven't completed the same, please check your email or click this link to finalize your order -
Why was the shipping fee not collected during the campaign?
1. CURA with all its variations, permutations & combinations with its mounts and accessories like Pump & Reservoir, is too complex, and collecting shipping to more than 100+ countries right here is too tedious. Surveys are built specifically to handle this complexity.
2. A campaigner could keep more of the shipping funds if collected later, as opposed to during the campaign. Typically, between 20-40% of all funds collected during a campaign are payable towards advertising & marketing, and other costs. Customer acquisition is much much harder in the post-IOS14 world as ads don't perform as well, and shipping is way too expensive post-pandemic to give a portion of this away.
Why are theMounts optional?
By keeping them optional, we keep the price down of the basic unit and allow customers to use it as they wish, perhaps hanging overhead or in other configurations.
Is the shipping fee higher than the estimates given earlier?
The short answer is NO, please take a look here.
screenshot from the campaign
Bundling products doesn't change the price here, as CURA is dense & heavy, actual weight is being counted as seen here (except for CURA200).
What does it seem expensive?
Shipping is generally expensive post the pandemic applicable across the board.
There's Peak Surcharge, Fuel Surcharge (42%), and other costs as shown here.
Why is shipping not free?
We are a humble startup trying to bring an idea to life, with the help of the crowdfunding community. The products are offered at great value here which is about half the price of the eventual retail price. CURA is not built cheap - horticultural LEDs from OSRAM, metal & polycarbonate construction, IOT architecture with ESP32 chipset, RGB LEDs for ambient lighting, peristaltic pump, cables & accessories, metal fitments - all this is offered within the price. There's no way we can afford to make it free shipping.
Missing Water Reservoir?
This was truly a blunder, someone forgot to add this in the survey. We are scratching our heads on how to manage this. Shall revert soon.
Backer-kit's preorder store has special prices for our other products. All the PICO & Herbstation orders placed until yesterday, have already been shipped. Please check your inbox if you have ordered any, for shipping confirmation.
Here's a summary of the offerings- they ship within 48 hours.
We shall be back with more update on the project soon.
Keep it growing,
Best,
Team Altifarm
We did it! 🎉 $188,451 Raised + Move to Indiegogo + Failed Payments + What’s Next
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, May 23, 2022 at 02:26:01 PM
Hey CURA family!
Give yourself a big pat on the back. You and 1054 others helped us successfully raise over $188,451.
We at Altifarm are so grateful to all of you who have contributed to our campaign.
Now comes the most crucial and the most challenging part, production and delivering of CURA to you!
We have been preparing for this day for months and are working overtime to make sure everything goes according to plan.
CURA is Moving to InDemand on Indiegogo
Though our Kickstarter campaign is over, CURA will be available for purchase on Indiegogo.
We are now on Indiegogo InDemand. Here you can refer your friends who’ll be interested in growing with CURA.
A small amount of people's credit cards failed to process for various reasons. You have received an email from Kickstarter with the subject line "Please fix your payment method for CURA"
You have only 3 days to fix your payment, so if you want to receive your CURA please fix your payment here:
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