Engineer taught a houseplant to control a robotic arm with a machete

By: Maksim Panasovskiy | 05.10.2022, 14:37

Engineer David Bowen was able to attach a robotic arm to a houseplant that was able to control it.

Here's What We Know

The Philodendron took part in the experiment. It is an evergreen perennial of the Araceae family. The engineer attached an open-source microcontroller to it, through which the robotic arm was controlled.

In a way, the plant itself became the brain of the device. According to the engineer, the philodendron can independently determine the span of the robotic arm and perform certain actions in space.

However, there is no confirmation that the plant controls the control of the machete. In real time, special software can match electrical impulses to the movements of the robotic arm. Therefore, it is likely that the robotic arm is moving chaotically.

Source: David Bowen