Rooted Intellect - Culivation, AI, and Theophrastus

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There is a unifying force within cannabis and technology that commonly intersect, and that is the notion of accessibility: accessibility of products, services, and knowledge, which permits individuals to serve as industry pioneers while also providing due diligence and educating themselves. The home cultivation of cannabis is one of these ventures, but it is not necessarily an easy feat if unfamiliar with the process or when limited in space or mobility.

Allen Hoffmann, Founder and CEO of Rooted Intellect, is a visionary who aims to enhance accessibility and knowledge regarding small-scale cannabis cultivation through the combination of his patent pending Bloom Carousel and Phraistus Horticultural AI.

Allen holds multi-faceted skills in the cannabis space, product research and development, and technology. Last week, Cannmanage.ai sat down with Allen from Rooted Intellect to discuss the impact of his AI solutions on the cultivation sector and his process of launching Rooted Intellect. As a fellow start-up company, time is a valuable commodity, and this was time that would not have been made possible had we not had the ability to automate repetitive tasks.

Allen Hoffmann, Thomas J. Buckley

January 24th, 2023

Interview with Rooted Intellect

This week’s newsletter continues our new featured articles with fellow professionals in the cannabis and artificial intelligence industries. In an article written on January 18th, 2024, Rooted Intellect was one of only a few select companies highlighted to raise awareness of the growing acceptance and nature of artificial intelligence along with its integration into the cannabis industry. On January 24th, 2024, through a Discord invite, Allen Hoffmann, Founder and CEO of Rooted Intellect, the CEO of CannManage, Beth Myers, and The Chief Technical Writer of CannManage, Thomas Buckley, joined the invite to the server to discuss the origins of Rooted Intellect and the potential impact that their products will offer the cannabis space.?

Part I - The History of Rooted Intellect and Allen Hoffmann

Allen’s career is a testament to dedication and innovation. With an impressive decade of prior retail experience, he brings a unique perspective to the table. Allen was a critical team member in developing Davinci’s herb vaporizer IQ device, managing vendor relations, and performing routine factory visits. In addition to serving as the Founder and CEO of Rooted Intellect, Allen is also instrumental with Airo Brands, serving as the Director of Research and Development and previously as the Director of Product Development. Starting as Director of Product Development in 2018, he developed over 30 uniquely crafted vape mixtures for the Airo Artisan series and 50 qualified strains and live flower as specific cataloged products. Additionally, Allen worked with engineering and quality to provide reliable products that adhere to the highest standards for customers. As Airo has grown, so have Allen’s responsibilities, leading him to become the Director of Research and Development, working diligently with intellectual property, development, and management.??

2023 would prove to be a transformative year. Just as OpenAI would impact the world of artificial intelligence throughout history, Allen was granted early access to advanced GPT models through OpenAI and provided research credit for AI testing. Fortunately, with AI's commercialization, he has flourished and offered more accessible tools as AI is proving to be a thriving and ever-evolving technological landscape.??

Part II - Idea Origins and Purpose

The story behind Rooted Intellect uncovers an inspiring source of innovation. The spark for Allen’s groundbreaking ideas ignited during his travels to China. There, he observed a simple yet ingenious solution - rotating tables. In Allen’s mind, this discovery held immense potential. Adding this concept into the cultivation process was a way to remove restrictions and limitations that some had faced in their experience – lack of access to specific portions of the plants, restricted access in small grow tents, and, for others, personal physical restrictions. Working from personal experience as an individual with sciatica in his right leg, three-time COVID survivor, and long hauler, Allen’s personal experiences speak volumes about their integration as a creative solution for the cultivation process, particularly in cultivating cannabis for personal medical use, including his experience in not having access to areas of his plants that contained mites or mold and, in one instance, the breakage of a 10-gram branch due to inaccessibility.

Part III - Introduction to Bloom Carousel

Home cultivation is often rewarding, but it can present challenges, especially for beginners or individuals with unique circumstances. However, Allen has introduced a game-changing solution to address these challenges and revolutionize how plants are grown, drawing inspiration from his trips to China, where he encountered rotating tables in culinary settings, allowing access to any item.?

This unique concept became the foundation for Rooted Intellect's patent-pending innovation, the Bloom Carousel. Allen adapted this rotating feature for cannabis plants, enhancing accessibility and convenience, which is evident in its thoughtfully examined design. Stemming from prior experiences with physical limitations in movement and experiences in attempting to cultivate in small environments, Allen was able to supersede these limitations and create a system that is healthier for the plants and accessible to the grower, no matter their ability.

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Utilizing a 360-degree trellis system, home cultivators are no longer limited to accessing any part of their plants, particularly components at the bottom or in delicate areas in smaller grow tents. One prominent benefit of this system is how it negates the need to reach through the physical plants for routine maintenance, minimizing the loss of terpenes on skin and clothing while minimizing the potential for both physical damage and contamination to the plant.???

However, there was a limitation that Allen needed to consider - keeping the rotational element while also providing support to the plant. The Bloom Carousel incorporates a trellis system designed with the Sea of Green and Screen of Green cultivation methods in mind. This combination of features offers a remarkable advantage to cultivators of all abilities and skill levels by providing full access while retaining the organic structural integrity of the plant.?

This versatile system can be tailored to different growth stages, accommodating pot sizes ranging from one to five gallons with a water retention bucket. The Bloom Carousel is adaptable to various cultivation conditions, whether someone is working in a compact indoor grow tent with limited space or a sprawling outdoor setup. As plants grow, the Carousel is expandable in height from 38 to 54 inches, allowing for incremental adjustments, and should plants need to be moved from one location to another, they can be moved gently due to the lockable rolling casters. The Bloom Carousel can also be paired with the company’s proprietary AI solution – Phraistus.

Part IV - Introduction to Phraistus?

Rooted Intellect is at the forefront of horticulture, setting new standards with its AI horticulture software Phraistus, named after the Greek Father of botany, Theophrastus. While not exclusively reliant on ChatGPT or OpenAI, this proprietary technology can utilize AI as necessary, creating an indispensable tool for cultivators. What truly sets this AI horticultural software apart is its proprietary nature. It's not solely dependent on an OpenAI ChatGPT-based model but integrates its capabilities as needed. This adaptability empowers Rooted Intellect to provide a dynamic tool that caters to growers' specific requirements and questions, with the ultimate goal of Phraistus being to educate.

What makes Phraistus an effective horticultural specialist is the depth of its training and model tuning. It can successfully identify plants from images, diagnose specific problems related to nutrient deficiency, nutrient lockout due to pH and related issues, identify bug infestations, diagnose plant infections, provide protocols for soils, top dressings, foliar sprays, hydroponic solutions, and can provide ongoing assistance based on how the plant responds to the use of these protocols. It scales the complexity of its responses based on the depth of the question asked and can go in-depth on advanced topics as required.

This fact is quite advantageous to users of the system; should they have a question about their plants, cannabis, or anything else, they can upload an image to the Discord server and will receive a response back on the most likely solution or pinpoint where issues may be. This feature is possible due to the model known as Arcturus, which can analyze uploaded images among a host of other capabilities. The sheer depth and breadth of this image repository empower the software to provide extraordinarily accurate and comprehensive guidance.

In light of current events, such as the manner in which some AI solutions train their models using consumer data, Phraistus was designed with privacy and user autonomy as fundamental principles in the software's design. User data is never stored within the system, ensuring robust data security and preserving confidentiality.?

Access to the basic tier is free for all users, a testament to devotion to accessibility, and allows users to upload a single image and ask their questions to receive responses on all horticultural topics. Rooted Intellect provides this as a service to the community, particularly for the disabled and those unable to afford the subscription tier.

Rooted Intellect can be financially supported by joining its subscription tier for $9.99 per month. This tier provides additional capabilities, including an expanded context window, multiple image recognition, and separate thread interactions to preserve conversations, which can also be purged if necessary or desired.

Phraistus features a vast context window exceeding 100,000 tokens—equivalent to 75-100 pages of text—and offers unparalleled guidance from seedling to harvest. This tool is essential for every phase of cultivation, ensuring precision and setting industry benchmarks. It serves as a trusted companion for both novice and expert growers, enhanced by comprehensive customer support.

Part V - Future Plans

The future is bright for innovations in artificial intelligence for any industry, so long as people are open to learning and adapting to it. Rooted Intellect seeks to provide curated and engineered products to home growers and professional cultivators with optimizations and features geared toward their respective horticultural needs. This vision aligns with their commitment to accessibility and personalized cultivation experiences while introducing user-friendly and affordable solutions to the market.

One large project is estimated to launch between the end of 2024 or early 2025 and could truly revolutionize the cultivation experience with a fully comprehensive system. This project will encompass a state-of-the-art grow tent equipped with a full sensor suite, an integrated OLED display for offline interactions, and the ability to format information for optimized interfacing with Phraistus. With several novel patent-pending technologies, this project will ultimately be capable of creating an all-in-one solution that simplifies and optimizes the cultivation process, making it accessible to growers of all levels.

A longer-term project will be the further refinement of Phraistus. However, developing and training a sophisticated AI system model is an expensive venture; Allen disclosed that this training process will require an investment ranging from $2-4 million. This substantial commitment, though, underscores Rooted Intellect’s dedication to its mission - offering a revolutionary cultivation solution. This investment includes the creation of a 30,000-image database, something unparalleled in the industry.

Currently, for individuals who are interested in utilizing this technology, their Discord server is available for individuals to join for a temporary free trial of the subscription tier, which will then shift to a subscription-based model with the previously mentioned nominal monthly fee. Discord, which can be a moderately challenging system to adjust to, has been serving the community members quite well on the Rooted Intellect page, providing a lively, friendly, engaging community that has grown to the point that it has been able to welcome the first moderator “groqs.” The company and Allen, also known by his handle name NerdyBurner, can also be found on LinkedIn, and Reddit.?

As Allen and Rooted Intellect march forward, their vision is clear – to democratize cultivation, empower individual growers, and offer comprehensive solutions leveraging AI's power. The future is ripe with possibilities, and Rooted Intellect is determined to be at the forefront of innovation in horticulture.