Robot plants are not new to BotJunkie, but creepy ones are. Not that this robot plant is intended to be creepy, but like everything in the Uncanny Valley, it just sort of ends up that way. Or maybe it’s just me.

Each of the plant’s 169 artificial leaves is controlled by a piece of shape memory wire. When cameras mounted above the plant see your hand move over it, it signals the plant to shimmy its leaves in the same area in response to a ‘virtual wind.’

Plant (that’s what it’s called, “Plant”) was designed by Akira Nakayasu, and will be on display at Ars Electronica 2010. Pic of Plant sans leaves, after the jump. (Read more…)

“Le Petit Prince” is a little robotic greenhouse that’s one of the finalists in Electrolux’s 2009 Design Lab competition. The concept is cool (if not entirely practical): each plant gets its own little robot, which seeks out whatever nutrients and other resources the plant needs… But it really should win just because of the artwork:

[ Electrolux Design Lab ] VIA [ Tuvie ]

I don’t know what these particular tomato plants have done to deserve their own personal robot gardeners, but I hope that on whatever level tomato plants perceive the outside world, they realize how lucky they are. Each plant is equipped with a bunch of sensors, and through them, the plants can request water or nutrients, which are provided to them by some iRobot Create bases equipped with a robot arm and a watering pump.

Presumably, the plants can request anything else that they want, like more virtual sunlight or some pictures of pistils and stamens to keep themselves entertained. Don’t scoff, the robots are also programmed to masturbate pollinate the plants when necessary. Ultimately, the robots will even pick ripe tomatoes for you, but they stop just short of making you a delicious omelette.

Robots tending plants may seem like overkill considering that plans are generally fairly capable of taking care of themselves, but really, caring for plants (especially big fields of plants) is a lot of work. And, it’s fairly wasteful, since plants are treated as a group and may get more or less resources than they require to produce optimally. The vision is to create an entire networked greenhouse where individual plants ask for what they need and robots deliver it, which (if you don’t think too much about the cost of the robots) promises to be much more efficient than conventional agriculture.

[ CSAIL @ MIT ] VIA [ Physorg ]

Besides the pictures, there isn’t really any more information on this project by The Play Coalition. But the pics say it all, I think: the robot bottom half of the plant basket is basically a photovore, with light sensors that control four legs, beautifully constructed out of wood.

Just give this thing some sensors and a brain, and you’ve got yourself a house plant that can take care of itself.

[ The Play Coalition ] VIA [ Neatorama ]

“Study for Lit from Within,” an art installation by Ryan Wolfe, consists of a bunch of living plants (common horsetail) situated in a dark room. LED lights have been surgically embedded inside the plants, and when they’re turned on, the plants are able to photosynthesize the LED light, keeping themselves alive. Each plant has been programmed to brighten and dim to its own internal sun cycle. All together, the field of plants is supposed to “remind us how modern advances increasingly reconfigure lives while offering an imaginative glimpse of the future of this intertwining.” Er, yeah… They’re cyborg plants, man. No need to try and hype it up any more than that.

You can catch these cybernetic organisms at the Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery in Brooklyn up until June 29th.

[ Ryan Wolfe ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]