Botanicalls is a system intended to open conversations between plants and people. We plan to create an extended implementation of the Botanicalls project, moving it forward both conceptually and technically. We will develop a new series of open source, do-it-yourself plant communication systems and publish tutorials with how-to examples that make these systems available to the general public. The resulting open-source network of people and their plants will be supported by a central online server. We will create devices that can be purchased in kit form, then customized by the users to personalize their experience of the project. These extensions will be shared in an online community, and through public workshops and hack labs run by the Botanicalls team.
Technically, we are planning to create scalable hardware and software, set up a publicly Asterisk server system, and add diverse communication modules while reducing complexity and cost. Conceptually, we will explore a variety of ways to connect people with the natural world through existing and emerging forms of communication including social networking for plants and other forms of imaginative intra-species interactions.
The Botanicalls Open-Source Public Plant Network will focus on opening a dialog by provoking conversations between plant owners, hardware hackers and the plants themselves. The system will aim to make connections between the conceptual and physical worlds, as well as between two vastly different yet physically proximate kingdoms of living things.
Project Timeline
July - brainstorming, user research, technical investigations
August - experimentation & prototyping
September - development of kits and online server systems
October - system testing, connecting with user base
November - provide user support, digest feedback, grow community
Project Budget
Artist Fee: $2000
Server/Hosting: $500
Printed Circuit Boards: $1000
Prototyping/Parts: $500
Public Workshops: $500
Materials: $300
Publicity: $200
Total: $5000
Botanicalls is a system that allows house plants to place phone calls for human help. It was originally developed at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program in 2006. When a plant on the Botanicalls network needs water, it can call a person and ask for exactly what it needs. When people phone the plants, the plants introduce themselves and orient callers to their botanical characteristics.
Each plant has it's own unique voice. The personalities of the plants are inspired by their biological characteristics. For example, spider plants are fast growers and produce prolific plantlets that can be cut and easily replanted. So, the voice of the spider plant is friendly, bubbly and generous. The slow-growing and adaptive Lithops, also called the Living Stone, sounds quite ponderous and proud while the Scotch Moss, which is neither completely Scottish or a moss, has a fake accent and is a touch crazy. Listen to the Lithops, the Scotch Moss, and the Papyrus.
Giving the plants voices based on their characteristics is important to us because the project is meant to educate people about the habits and needs of plants so that they might better understand how to care for them.
Each plant on the Botanicalls system is equipped with sensors connected to an Arduino microcontroller which contains code particular to that plant type. When a plant's microcontroller determines that the plant needs to make a phone call based on current sensor information, it sends data through an XBee wireless radio to an XPort gateway. This gateway connects to the Internet, where it contacts an Asterisk open-source telephone system, which generates the call. When the call is placed, a prerecorded audio file is played, expressing the particular desire of that plant.
Botanicalls opens a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding. Call 212.202.8348 to hear more about each of the plants.
Botanicalls Twitter
Botanicalls Twitter answers the question: What's up with your plant? It offers a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates that reach you anywhere in the world. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love.
Originally, Botanicalls used an advanced system of sensors, networked radios, XPorts, and the Asterisk phone system. The results were robust, but costly and complex for individuals to replicate. Recently, we created a simplified version of the system as a do-it-yourself example that allows a single plant to post Twitter updates when it needs human help. Plants post, or "tweet", their status when they need water, or have been watered too little or too much. They also make Twitter updates to politely proclaim their thanks when their needs have been properly met. All components to the system can be purchased from various online sources, and the code required to operate the system has been posted online as well. The popularity of this example--10,000 visitors in the first day--has convinced us to bring the system out to a broader DIY, open-source, open hardware community under a creative commons license.
