--- title: "Report: MIT’s Much-Hyped Robotic Agriculture Project is a Sham" description: "An MIT-funded robotic agriculture project that promised anybody the instant ability to successfully grow food is snake oil, according to Business Insider." date: "2019-09-09" modified: "2019-09-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-robotic-agriculture-sham" categories: - "Agriculture" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "jeffrey epstein" - "mit" - "mit media lab" - "the digest" --- # Report: MIT’s Much-Hyped Robotic Agriculture Project is a Sham ![An MIT-funded robotic agriculture project that promised anybody the instant ability to successfully grow food is snake oil, according to Business Insider.]() *\Image: MIT/Victor Tangermann\* ## Industry Plant MIT's much-hyped ["personal food computer"]() project, a robotic system that promised to let anybody grow food at home, isn't everything it cracked up to be, sources close to the matter [revealed to *Business Insider*](). The devices, as part of MIT's Open Agriculture Initiative, are meant to allow people across the world to grow their own food inside a controlled environment thanks to LED lights, hydroponics, and a number of advanced sensors. But according to two employees, they never worked as advertised. "It's fair to say that of the 30-ish food computers we sent out, at most two grew a plant," one MIT source, who asked to remain anonymous, told *Business Insider*. ## Grow Home People involved with the project were reportedly asked by managers to put store-bought plants inside the devices ahead of big demos to funders to make it look like the devices work. The report couldn't have come at a worse time. The MIT Media Lab has been in the news recently for [accepting]() — and [trying to hide]() the fact that it was receiving — funds from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Perhaps the most brutal diss: Paula Cerqueira, a researcher who worked as a project manager at the Open Agriculture Initiative, called the devices "glorified grow boxes" in an interview with *BI*. **READ MORE:** [The Epstein-funded MIT lab has an ambitious project that purports to revolutionize agriculture. Insiders say it's mostly smoke and mirrors.]() \[*Business Insider*\] **More on MIT Media Lab:** *[Bizarre MIT Meeting About Jeffrey Epstein Ends In Tears, Yelling]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()