A robot to care for plants
When we walk through the cities - if we look closely - we see that the plants almost always rest towards the sun, in fact, that movement that vegetation practices in search of energy and food is called "Heliotrope" (Helios which means in Greek "Sun ", And tropein, which is" to return ").
In our house, the same thing happens, although sometimes we make it quite difficult for our poor plants (See article on indoor plants). Solution!… Use the robotic technology to keep our plants alive.
The idea comes from a Chinese businessman dedicated to robotics (Sun Tianqi, owner of the Vincross company). At a sunflower exhibit he visited last year, he noticed that there was a dead sunflower in the leftover near other flowers that were within reach of the sun, so he thought that if the plant could have moved away from the shade, it would have lived. This is where the spider robot HEXA!…
The HEXA is a hybrid between vegetable and robot in the style of a "leafy crab" that walks around the house. Six moveable and well-meshed legs, a base - shell with the latest state-of-the-art technology and on its back, a sensor-controlled pot.
He moves towards the sun when necessary, and retreats into the shade when he is fed up. It will play with a human if you tap its shell, and it can even make its needs known by doing a little dance when it needs water.
Just as home automation has already come into force and makes life a little easier, experts predict that we will not only have smart homes, but robotics with the cheaper technology will have the same path helping us in many of daily household chores.
HEXA is a very friendly six-legged robot, inspired by nature to thrive in the real world. Agile, Smart and compact enough to fit anywhere.
Robotics is advancing by giant steps and we could also see this in the article on the construction robot that detects construction errors in real time.
The following video is from the original project before starting the adaptation of the shell to house a plant. He is a user who bought it and explores its possibilities, the truth is, there are many!
Hexa's optical and spatial sensors allow you to look at and learn about the world around you, and through a mobile application we can manage it as you please. Its technical specifications are:
- Sensors: 720P camera with night vision; 3-axis accelerometer; distance measurement sensor; infrared transmitter.
- Maneuverability: Each leg is equipped with three motors and three DoFs. Your head can spin without stopping.
- Processor: ARM dual-core Cortex-A9 @ 1GHz
- Interfaces: USB, audio input and output, I2C, ADC, GPIO, 5V / 3V3 power socket
- Storage: 8 GB
- Battery: 45-180 minutes (continuous use), charging time 2.5 hours (charging cable) or 4 hours (wireless docking)
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, HEXA can act as a Wi-Fi access point.
- Dimensions: Height 4.72 inches, diameter 20 inches.
It is also programmable, it uses open software that has created an interesting community of developer users on the manufacturer's website where new skills and functions that can be integrated into the robot are explored and shared.
And if you want to be surprised by the latest, you can see our article on how artificial intelligence is affecting architecture.
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