Written on November 5, 2008 – 11:32 am | by Maria Mihale |


I’m not sure why people don’t really care about the environment and why they don’t seem to understand that this is a very important task for everyone of us. More than that, ensuring ourselves and our children a better life shouldn’t be something like a burden or a sacrifice.

Preparing for those times when man has completely ravaged our planet, the robot research laboratory at Korea’s Chonnam National University has managed to develop a robotic plant, a “green” robot that surprisingly functions just like its biological counterpart – as it has humidifying, oxygen-producing, aroma-emitting and kinetic functions. I don’t think that this robotic plant will be more popular than the real thing, but it is very good to know that we can rely on this – just in case there is a nuclear fallout sometime in the future – to provide us with oxygen. Because after such an apocalyptic scenario, chances are there won’t be any sunlight at all due to the dust kicked up and plants will die as they won’t be able to perform the photosynthesis process, providing vital oxygen for the atmosphere.

The robot was developed using characteristics of plants normally grown for ornamental purposes. It is 130 cm tall and 40 cm in diameter and consists of a pot, a stem and five buds of a flower reminiscent of a rose of Sharon. According to the plant’s creators the plant responds to stimuli from outside, such as movement by humans or animals, and bends towards the sound source and spreading its “bloom”. This happens when a person comes within a 40 cm radius of the flower and when the person leaves, the plant returns to its original state.

The plant also trembles gently when exposed to loud noises or high vocal tones and dances when music is played. If a person’s voice becomes louder than a certain level, the flower buds will come into bloom and the stem shakes slightly to suggest a greeting. When the room lights up, the buds open and close, and when music is played, the plant dances.

Users could build a “robot garden” of several robots embedded with a ubiquitous networking system or use them for indoor interior decoration. “American universities and Japanese manufacturers have produced toy-like robot plants, but ours has various new kinetic and electronic functions”, project leader Park Jong-oh said. “It’s a fresh attempt to introduce the concept of plants, rather than humans or animals, to robot making”.

There are no specifications about the release date or the price of the Robotic Plant.

(Source: Dvice)