A smart irrigation system including a mechanized irrigation machine having a main machine controller, a plurality of distributed controllers, and a communications network. The distributed controllers may be located at a plurality of spaced apart locations on the mechanized irrigation machine. The communications network may communicably couple the plurality of distributed controllers, the main machine controller, and local or remote cloud storage. Furthermore, the main machine controller and the plurality of distributed controllers may retrieve or store information from the local or remote cloud storage for maintenance, firmware updates, or troubleshooting of the mechanized irrigation machine. The distributed controllers may perform the following functions: individual tower motor control, span joint control, corner arm control, GPS guidance or positioning of one or more actuatable features of the smart irrigation system, and/or valve control of individual sprinklers for variable rate irrigation.