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Create a Robotic Garden

April 11, 2013 by Steve Madewell

Try your hand at inventing a robotic garden!

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One of the coolest inventions I have seen recently is an adorable little robot named PLANTANIMAL. This autonomous garden-robot prototype was created by Pittsburgh-based inventor/artist/scientist, Jason Bannister. PLANTANIMAL is designed to wheel around its home seeking a warm sunny spot to soak up some rays. This ensures the plants living in PLANTANIMAL get plenty of sunlight.

blog_madewell-steve-2013-04-11_cMechanimal_PlantAnimal.jpg

PLANTANIMAL by Jason Bannister.

PLANTANIMAL by Jason Bannister. Courtesy of Mechanimal. 

Inspired by PLANTANIMAL, I decided to create my own robotic garden using items already in my office workshop. After several versions were created, tested, and tweaked, I came up with a robotic garden made from two broken RC cars, miscellaneous craft supplies, and a small Spark!Lab hydroponic garden. 

blog_madewell-steve-2013-04-11_cSteveMadewell_Robot Materials.jpg

A random sampling of “potential robot treasures” collected from my office/workshop for this project.

A random sampling of “potential robot treasures” collected from my office/workshop for this project. 

My robotic garden, named GROWBOT, finds sunny spots via radio control, attracting a lot of attention at the museum. 

blog_madewell-steve-2013-04-11_cSteveMadewell_growbot.jpg

GROWBOT, Spark!Lab’s Robotic Garden Prototype.

GROWBOT, Spark!Lab’s Robotic Garden Prototype.

Tips for inventing your own robotic garden:  

  1. Take a trip to the local garden center! Decide what types of plants you want to grow. How about a robo-veggie garden, or an herb-bot for your kitchen?
  2. Consider the possibilities! Sketching ideas on paper may help or let your ideas be inspired by the “trash-ures” gathered from around your house.
  3. Get to work! Let the potential robot gardens take shape—build and then tweak your design.
  4. Share! Don’t leave the robotic gardening community waiting! Share a photo or video with us at sparklab@si.edu, or on Facebook.

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