Amidst the flurry of SmartHome devices and solutions on display at this year’s Computex in Taipei, one really stood out for us here at Pocket-lint. The OPCOM Farm Cube allows those with no suitable outdoor space to run a mini farm that can operate remotely from your iPad or Android tablet.

This stackable cube garden is a hydroponic system which allows you to tend your plants from the office. It uses LED ‘growth’ lights in place of sun, an adjustable fan system for optimum air circulation and UV purified water. Sensors monitor the humidity and water quality and you can even add nutrients as you think necessary. There’s a panoramic camera so you can check in on your plants too.

Concerned that you don’t know enough about the requirements of specific veggies? Not to worry, the Farm Cube is preloaded with professional farming software. Just select the type of plant you are growing and the system can take care of the optimum amount of water, water PH levels, light, wind and fertiliser for each growth stage, plus temperature control. Of course if you consider yourself a whiz you can control these factors manually.

play farmville for real with your very own ipad controlled garden image 11
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It’s not just limited to edibles; you can also seed flowers using the software. The peace lilies on the lower level of the display model were doing very nicely indeed.

Each cube measures 1m x 2m and is 85cm tall. The unit we saw on display boasted four levels, with 51 growing pods on each one and looked absolutely stunning. If you’re short on space there’s a single layer option too. Not only can you enjoy noshing down on your own home-grown goodness but the unit also blasts out the oxygen from the operation into your space from eight specialised ports on the side. Quite the brain booster there.

Office managers beware: real-life Farmville has arrived.

The catch? It'll set you back a pretty penny costing $1,000 for a single tray or $4,000 - $5000 for the stack shown here.