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Disney Turns Plants Into Multi-Touch Sensors
SchrodingerZ writes "Designers of Disney Research in Pittsburgh Pa, have turned the average household plant into a musical device and remote control. Called the Botanicus Interacticus project, this new program can turn any household plant into touch-sensitive computer system. 'The system is built upon capacitive touch sensing — the principle used on touchscreens in smartphones and tablets — but instead of sensing electrical signals at a single frequency, it monitors capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies. It's called Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing.' This works by putting a pulsating electrode into the soil around a plant, which excites the plant, making any touch to the parts of the plant a replayable signal. This could mean soon swatting at your household plant could change the television channel or turn up the volume (PDF)."
While an interesting development, I don't believe the average plant would thrive with the abuse of a std remote control usage.
Can I get a potted plant to serve as an editor?
Or has this already happened?
Combine this with a sensitive plant and you can have a lot of fun!
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
> "This works by putting a pulsating electrode into the soil
> around a plant, which excites the plant, making any touch
> to the parts of the plant a repayable signal."
Finally, nerds whose inability to get the girl has led to a useful perversion.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
This was covered on Slashdot back in May as the Touché which turns any surface into a multi-touch surface. I'm wondering what made the hype return three months later with plants. It's cool that you can use this on plants, but why plants when you can do anything else that exists in an office environment. After all, plants need watering. Why not just use plastic plants? Or, are we all that much more interested in creating a visible emotional bond with our house plants?
All my houseplants are Cacti.
I want to take one of these setups to an organic orchard and program it to shriek in agony when someone picks the fruit. That should give those vegetarian hippies something to think about!
A touch-sensitive plant could be used for home or business security. It could be trained to sense contact at a certain threshold of pressure (e.g., a human footstep versus a breeze or a small animal) and summon support appropriately. Add some solar-powered electricity (or a gene splice with an electric eel) and it could zap the intruder.
Of course, there's only one thing they could call this application of the principle.
Robocrop.