Parrot, the company behind the iPhone-controlled AR Drone quadricoptor, has debuted its new Flower Power project at CES 2013.
The system consists of a two-pronged Bluetooth monitoring device that sticks in the soil, and an iPad app. The Verge has a rundown on how it works:
Simply place the Flower Power device — which looks like a colorful leek — in the soil near any of your plants, pair the device with your iPhone or iPad, and you can track all of your plants' needs from anywhere. Once you've paired the device with your phone or tablet, you can choose your plant from a library of about 6000 plants, and if you're not certain of your plant's name, you can search by leaf type, color, and a number of other options.
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The app is updated every 15 minutes, pulling information from the device about the sunlight the plant receives, the ambient temperature, and the moisture level and fertilizer content of the soil.
When plants need attention, the app will provide push notifications, and an included graph allows for the long term tracking of plant health. According to CNET, the tongs can be moved from plant to plant and the system also works with lawns.
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There is no word on a release date or pricing, but Parrot hopes to bring Flower Power to the market sometime in 2013.
Top Rated Comments
Ah, home grows can wirelessly monitor their cash crops.
but is the cash crop in it's list of plants? otherwise just pick tomatoes or roses and you should be fine. :cool:
First thought was that it monitored a plants health instead of Bluetooh...if that makes any sense.
It, in fact, does not make sense.
One word: marijuana.
Is that in it's database of plants?