Hi, I’m Fabian, an embedded-systems engineer and the person behind OpenValve.

I developed OpenValve because I wanted a practical and repairable way to automate irrigation, especially for rain barrels and other low-pressure water sources. The project combines my interest in sustainable gardening with my background in hardware and embedded-system development.

My professional background is in embedded hardware, prototyping, and applied research. I hold degrees in Smart Homes and Assistive Technologies and Embedded Systems from FH Technikum Wien, where I later worked as a researcher and lecturer. I also worked as a research engineer at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, developing hardware and embedded-system prototypes for new technologies.

OpenValve is fully open source, so you can build it yourself using the published files or purchase a prepared kit here. Buying a kit saves you the work of sourcing and matching the individual parts and helps support the continued development of the project.