Botanicalls
Robert Faludi (American, born 1966), Kate Hartman (American, born 1981), Kati London (American, born 1976), and Rebecca Bray (American, born 1974)
Interactive Telecommunications Program (est. 1979)
New York University (USA, est. 1831)
2006
Electronics, printed circuit board, stainless steel rods, and Arduino-based open-source software
10 x 2 x 1 1/2" (25.4 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm)
Botanicalls gives a voice to our silent everyday companions: house plants. The device, which uses moisture sensors in a plant’s soil to trigger messages sent to its human caretaker over a wireless network, opens up a playful, yet useful, line of communication. The messages are either tweeted or read out by a recorded human voice via telephone, and the plants are polite enough to send both distress calls and notes of thanks. While Botanicalls enables one particular form of inter-species communication, its fresh use of sensor technology could be implemented more broadly.
Category: Objects
Tags: Interactions / Pets / Networks
