An assembly line grow pod comprising a distributed control system, the distributed control system comprising: a control housing comprising a plurality of bays shaped and sized to place a plurality of discrete hardware controller devices , each bay equipped with a plug-in network interface; a master controller residing in the control housing and including a first processor and a first memory that stores a first set of instructions that dictates plant growing operations and a second set of instructions that dictates a plurality of distributed control functions; and a first hardware controller device of the plurality of discrete hardware controller devices communicatively and removably coupled to the master controller in a first bay of the plurality of bays via the plug-in network interface at the time of placement in the first bay of the control housing , wherein the hardware controller device comprises a second processor and a second memory that stores a third set of instructions that dictate a first selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions; a second hardware controller device of the plurality of discrete hardware controller devices communicatively and removably coupled to the master controller in a second bay of the plurality of bays via the plug-in network interface at the time of placement in the second bay of the control housing , wherein the second hardware controller device comprises a third processor and a third memory that stores a fourth set of instructions that dictate a second selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions, wherein the second set of instructions cause the master controller to identify an address of the hardware controller device and send a set of parameters defining a plurality of tasks to perform the selected control function to the hardware controller device , characterized in that the first selected control function is different than the second selected control function. a control housing comprising a plurality of bays shaped and sized to place a plurality of discrete hardware controller devices , each bay equipped with a plug-in network interface; a master controller residing in the control housing and including a first processor and a first memory that stores a first set of instructions that dictates plant growing operations and a second set of instructions that dictates a plurality of distributed control functions; and a first hardware controller device of the plurality of discrete hardware controller devices communicatively and removably coupled to the master controller in a first bay of the plurality of bays via the plug-in network interface at the time of placement in the first bay of the control housing , wherein the hardware controller device comprises a second processor and a second memory that stores a third set of instructions that dictate a first selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions; a second hardware controller device of the plurality of discrete hardware controller devices communicatively and removably coupled to the master controller in a second bay of the plurality of bays via the plug-in network interface at the time of placement in the second bay of the control housing , wherein the second hardware controller device comprises a third processor and a third memory that stores a fourth set of instructions that dictate a second selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions, wherein the second set of instructions cause the master controller to identify an address of the hardware controller device and send a set of parameters defining a plurality of tasks to perform the selected control function to the hardware controller device , characterized in that the first selected control function is different than the second selected control function. <EOS>