Independent Hopper Seeder

Thank you for choosing the Rooted Robotics Independent Hopper Seeder. Designed with the small grower in mind yet robust enough for farms of any size, this machine brings precision, consistency, and ease to your microgreen and leafy green planting. This custom machine is designed for 10x20 trays. Accurate seed distribution leads to uniform planting across every tray, increasing yields while reducing labor costs and staff training time. Built with durable materials and customizable settings, it’s a versatile solution for controlled environment agriculture at any scale.

The seeder arrives fully assembled — simply open the electrical box, remove any packing materials, and plug it in to start planting. Our manual will guide you through setup, seed weight calibration, roller selection, and tray calibration.

Key benefits

Using the Independent Hopper Seeder brings a host of advantages to your operation, allowing for a quick return on investment and lasting improvements in planting efficiency and yield.

• Fast ROI: With labor-saving automation and minimal need for training, the Independent Hopper Seeder enables growers to quickly recover their investment while freeing up valuable time for other tasks.
• Increased Yield: Consistent, precise seed placement leads to uniform crop growth across trays, boosting yields and enhancing overall quality.
• Reduced Training Requirements: The seeder’s intuitive controls mean that even new team members can get up to speed quickly, reducing the time and resources spent on staff training.
• Durability for Long-Term Use: Built with durable materials to withstand controlled environment agriculture, the Independent Hopper Seeder ensures reliability and longevity for a variety of farm setups.

About Us

Our skilled team of engineers, designers, and industry veterans is the Swiss-army knife of the indoor farming industry. With backgrounds in small to large scale farm operations, machine design, software, computer vision, and machine learning, we’re able to tackle the key problems that controlled environment agriculture farms face. Rooted in robotic automation, we provide affordable tools, technology, and insights that allow farm operators to strategically plan for a more profitable future enabled by intelligent and interfacing machines.

Every tray passes five stations in this order.

1. 1Rooted
   Watering bar Waters the media before the seed goes down. Timed from the main laser gate
2. 2Rooted
   Seeder The hopper and roller dispense seed onto the tray. Timed from the main laser gate
3. 3Rooted
   Mister Mists the tray after seeding. Timed from the main laser gate
4. 4Not Rooted
   Top coater The big red hopper lays a dirt/soil layer over the seed. Runs on its own controls
5. 5Rooted
   Second watering bar Waters the tray again after the soil layer. Its own laser gate. No settings

Third-party components

The big red top coater (hopper), the conveyor belt, and the purple speed-control box are not Rooted-built. Anything that doesn’t look like Rooted hardware isn’t ours.

The Independent Hopper Seeder is designed for seeding leafy greens, microgreens, and baby greens in standard 1020 grow trays (up to 3 inches tall) in controlled environment agriculture facilities.

• Do NOT operate with guards removed or safety devices disabled.
• Do NOT use outdoors or in wet conditions.
• Do NOT use with trays exceeding 3 inches in height or non-1020 format trays.
• Do NOT operate the machine without reading this manual and watching setup videos.
• Do NOT allow untrained or unsupervised persons to operate the machine.

Signal Words and Symbols

Residual Risk Warnings

• Pinch points exist at the conveyor belt and rollers. Keep hands, hair and loose clothing clear of the belt feed area during operation.
• The machine contains voltages up to 110V AC (US) or 230V AC (EU) internally. Do not open the control panel enclosure.

Recommended Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Safety Glasses for normal operation, cleaning with compressed air, cleaning with sanitizers.
• Hearing protection for compressed air use.
• Closed toed shoes for all stages of machine life cycle.

Emergency Stop

• The E-stop button is located in the middle of the control panel, between the soft kill switch and the control dial. The e-stop has a bright red mushroom head with a yellow background making it easily identifiable.
• To activate the E-stop, press it in firmly. Upon this press all motor power is cut from the machine. To reset the machine, twist the E-stop button clockwise to release. The machine will NOT restart automatically, the operator must initiate a deliberate restart sequence.
• The E-stop should be used any time an unsafe condition is observed, when any injuries occur, or at any point the operator feels unsure about the machine behavior. The E-stop must also be activated for routine cleaning and maintenance.

• The Operator(s) for the Independent Hopper Seeder should place the seeder at a comfortable working height, with the tray intake belt located around waist level. Ensure the seeder is located on a stable surface.
• The operator(s) should be located at the infeed side of the machine when loading trays into the seeder and the outfeed side when collecting the seeded trays.
• When placing 1020 trays onto infeed belt, operator should NOT manually push trays towards the hopper, instead allowing the conveyor to catch trays and direct them towards hopper.
• Allow multiple feet of space between the machine and all walls or other machinery to allow for smooth operation, maintenance and cleaning.
• Before operation of the machine, ensure no untrained bystanders are in the operating zone of the machine.

The top coater/conveyor system and the Rooted seeder are completely independent and must each be powered on separately. Neither turns the other on or off.

Before running your first batch, it’s important to calibrate your machine for your specific seed type and production needs. The Seeder uses a control dial that lets you fine-tune key settings such as roller speed and the watering features. While some variation in seed weight is normal—typically within ±5% of your target—our testing shows that even distribution and consistent spacing often lead to better germination and higher yields than hand-seeding. Some seed loss is expected with any automation system, but it’s typically very minimal compared to the amount of seeds that actually land on the tray. Once you’re dialed in, the Seeder will provide reliable, repeatable performance with minimal adjustment.

Seed Weight Calibration

1. Choose and insert the correct roller based on your seed type.
2. Load seeds into the hopper, ensuring the roller is fully covered. Some seed spillage at this stage is normal.
3. Place an empty tray on the scale and tare it to zero. You can use a paper towel to help prevent seeds from bouncing out.
4. Turn on the machine and use the dial to select the seed variety you are testing.
5. Run the tray through the machine, collect the seeded tray, and weigh it.
6. Using the “Edit” feature, adjust the speed until you achieve the target weight three times in a row for accuracy.

Watering Feature Calibration

1. Connect your water source. Do not load seeds into the hopper during this test.
2. If using the Booster Pump Add-On, ensure the intake line is fully submerged. Run the machine and check for smooth, continuous flow—if the pump sputters, increase the flow using the dial on the pump body.
3. Place a tray with media (or towels/absorbent material) on the belt.
4. Select the seed variety you plan to run, and start the machine. The watering bar will turn on and off automatically based on belt speed.
5. Observe water coverage. Use the dial to fine-tune the watering bar’s start and stop time if needed.
6. For precise water amounts per tray, weigh the tray before and after watering. Adjust the needle valves until you achieve the desired weight consistently.
7. Once flow is consistent and water volume is dialed in, you’re ready to begin seeding.

The machine already works out its own timings from the belt speed it measured. These six dials nudge that timing earlier or later — they do not set it from scratch.

Every one of the six looks like this. Turn left toward Earlier, right toward Later.

One step is a tenth of a second. The dial runs from −20 to +20, so the furthest you can shift anything is two seconds either way.

Start and Stop are separate. Move Start on its own and the whole run shifts; move Stop on its own and the run gets longer or shorter.

None of the six affect the second watering bar.

1. Change what you needSet each dial on its own screen. The values shown always belong to the variety highlighted on Variety Preset.
2. Press Save SettingsNothing is stored until you do.
3. Look for Variety Preset SavedThat confirmation is how you know it was written to the machine.

A second watering bar sits downstream of the top coater. It is Rooted-built.

• Not configurable. It has its own laser gate and solenoid. Tray present, water on; no tray, off. It is independent of conveyor speed, calibration, and the six timing dials.
• It only waters while the seeder is running a variety. While the seeder is paused, calibrating, or shut down, it stays off.
• To disable it, disconnect the water supply. There is no switch.

The round screen is also the dial. There is nothing else to press.

• Turn the dial to move through varieties or change the number on a settings screen.
• Press a button drawn on the screen to choose it.
• Swipe to move between screens in the menu.

The number beside a name is the screen number, which is worth quoting if you ever ring for support.

The machine holds 20 variety presets, numbered 1 to 20. The conveyor must be running — the seeder only acts on trays the conveyor brings to it.

1. Open Variety PresetTurn the dial until the variety you want is showing.
2. Press SelectThe screen reads Loading Variety while the machine picks up that variety’s stored settings.
3. Check it says Variety SelectedThe machine is now running. The name of the variety is shown above the button.
4. Press Pause to stopPress it again to start. Pause is always one press away while this screen is showing. The conveyor and top coater keep running.

The machine times a tray through the sensor to learn how fast the belt is moving, and works out every actuator’s timing from that. Do this after changing the conveyor speed dial, and any time the seeding lands in the wrong place on the tray.

1. Swipe up and choose CalibrateThe Measure Belt Speed screen opens.
2. Press CalibrateThe screen changes to Run Tray.
3. Send one blank tray throughA standard 10x20 tray. Nothing is seeded or watered on this pass.
4. Watch it measureMeasuring while the tray is in the beam, then Calibrated.
5. It returns on its ownAfter a couple of seconds you are back at the variety screen. If the machine was paused before, it pauses again.

When to calibrate

• Any time the conveyor speed is changed at the purple box dial. The screen doesn’t detect speed changes, so all delays will be wrong until you recalibrate.
• Always use a standard 10x20 tray. The machine works out the belt speed from the length of the tray.
• Not needed after a shutdown. The machine remembers the last measurement.

Purpose

Keep all seed-contact and tray-contact surfaces visibly clean during use and thoroughly cleaned after use to protect product quality and consistent metering.

Approved agents and methods

• Use potable water, food grade detergents, peroxide or peracetic acid based sanitizers per label.
• Do not use chlorinated cleaners.
• Wipe or hose with a handheld nozzle. Do not use a pressure washer.

Routine cleaning during operation (every 250 trays)

• Keep the hopper rim and roller cavity free of seed dust and fragments.
• Wipe the selector dial and tray sensor window as needed to maintain reliable detection.
• Avoid getting water into the hopper, roller cavities, or onto dry seed. Resume seeding only after all these components are dry.

End of day cleaning

1. Disconnect power.
2. Empty seed from the hopper. Store seed in labeled containers.
3. Remove seed rollers and the roller quiver. Wipe all parts; if washing, rinse, sanitize if desired, and dry completely before reassembly.
4. Avoid direct spray into motor housings and the electronics box.
5. Wipe exterior panels, touch points, and the selector dial.
6. If using additives/chemicals with watering add-ons, flush lines with clean water for at least 60 seconds, then relieve pressure and allow residual water to purge.
7. Allow components to air dry fully before loading seed.

Deep cleaning (as needed)

1. Hose the machine with potable water using a handheld nozzle, then use compressed air to dislodge trapped debris and speed drying. Avoid directing water or airflow into motors, bearings, or the electronics box. Do not use a pressure washer.
2. Remove and individually clean seed rollers; ensure they are fully dry before reinstalling.
3. Inspect and clean drain paths so water cannot pool.

Do and do not

• Do keep food contact parts clean before, during, and after operation.
• Do avoid direct spray at bearings, motors, and the electronics box.
• Do not use chlorinated cleaners.
• Do not use a pressure washer.

For additional assistance, troubleshooting or questions about your Independent Hopper Seeder, our team is here to help. Please contact us at: