When Francesco needs water, sunlight, or even company, he can talk to let his owner know. It wouldn’t be that impressive except he’s a plant pot.
Four Australian National University (ANU) students created the smart plant pot, which has sensors that monitor things like soil moisture, amounts of sunlight, and a plants’ electrical signals.
Francesco – who the students created as part of a university course – is a 3D printed pot with an animated face on his LCD screen.
Along with monitoring a plant, Francesco also shares fun facts and dances along to Toxic by Brittany Spears, his favourite song.
Two of the smart pot’s creators, Jasper Lang and Brinda Murlikrishna, told ABC Radio Canberra Francesco was designed to help people understand and connect with their plants.
“We wanted to bring to life the kind of invisible lives of plants that we don’t see every day,” Mr Lang said.
“[Francesco is intended to] create a deeper connection between an individual and their house plants, and hopefully more broadly a deeper empathy and connection to nature.”
Ms Murlikrishna said the idea for the smart pot came from the students’ own experience of accidentally neglecting house plants.
“Some of us – including myself – are guilty of not taking care of our plants very well,” she said.
“We had a bit of a discussion on what could be a useful tool for people who forget to take care of their plants, to remind them but in a friendly, humorous way.”
While smart plant pots are by no means a new idea, Ms Murlikrishna said what makes Francesco stand out was his “unique personality”.
“Usually if you have a smart device it just tells you the readings or sensor values,” she said.
“But with Francesco, he talks. He says a lot of fun facts.”
Mr Lang said Francesco uses electrodes stuck to one of a plant’s leaves to detect electrical signals and interpret what is might be feeling.
“Plants produce electrical signals similar to the ones that we produce in our nerves, and you can actually detect these,” he said.
“[The electrodes] detect the tiny electrical signals generated by the plant, and we’re kind of interpreting these – in less of a scientific way and more of an artistic way – into how the plants might be feeling.”
Mr Lang said Francesco’s animated face changes according to a plant’s electrical signals in a “pretty basic interpretation” of the plant’s moods.
“Like less electrical activity that usually happens at night-time for all plants might mean … we play more sleepy animations,” he said.
“If there’s more electrical activity, like during the day if you’ve just given it some water, we’ll make the animations a bit more lively.”
Ms Murlikrishna said while the smart pot makes a lot of sense in a household setting, Francesco could also be implemented in public spaces too.
“We could definitely see Francesco being used more in households, but also in a public setting,” she said.
“Just to raise awareness that plants are actually living, and that we need to consider them as living things and take care of them.”