This Robot Is Designed To Chase The Sun So Your Plant Will Get All The Light It Needs
No more dead plants in your house! If you have a spare $949 in your pocket, that is. Robotics has already come a long way and we now have robots performing functions we didn’t even dream about. One such innovative machine is Hexa – a spider-like robot that takes care of your plants and literally helps to keep them alive. If you’re one of those people who like to have some greenery around their house but occasionally (or more often than you care to admit) forget watering your plants, then it might be a good idea to invest in Hexa.
More info: Vincross
This spider-like robot will help you maintain your plants by literally chasing down sunlight
Image credits: Tianqi Sun
The specific needs of a certain plant may depend upon its species but one thing is for certain: in order to thrive, they need water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide. Now if you’re a bit absent-minded, the Hexa robot will help take care of the first two for you – it will literally chase down sunlight so that your plant will get plenty of it and when there’s enough of it, it will seek shade. Hexa also spins around when in the sun to distribute sunshine on all sides of the plant.
And it will let you know when they are thirsty and need watering
Image credits: Tianqi Sun
Hexa will “dance” when the plant is happy and thriving and if it needs watering, the robot will stamp its legs to let you know. Its limbs are pretty agile, too, as Hexa has been designed to handle sudden drops and to basically move around anything.
However, the robot carries out other functions, too
Image credits: Tianqi Sun
You can play with it in this way – in the picture above, you can see the plant caretaker giving a human a double high-five. The robot also has a camera built in it with night vision so that you can investigate all the suspicious noises around the house without you having to leave your room. In addition to this, it has WiFi and USB ports.
The creator of Hexa is hopeful about the future of the robot
Image credits: Tianqi Sun
Tianqi Sun, the creator of Hexa said: “Each life has its own default settings, including human beings. For millions of years, humans have been following their settings, and it’s not until the last century that we started to break those laws. We invented submarines, airplanes, and the Apollo Program, essentially helping us to break our default settings.If human beings always try to break the settings with technology, how about plants? I do not know the answer, but I would love to try to share some of this human tendency and technology with plants. With a robotic rover base, plants can experience mobility and interaction. I do hope that this project can bring some inspiration to the relationship between technology and natural default settings.”
Image credits: Tianqi Sun
In case you’re interested in buying the robot, follow the link.
However, people on the Internet had conflicting opinions about the invention
9Kviews
Share on Facebook
Adorable, until its night... At night the robot scitters across your house....eventually you get used to it, and it becomes a normal sound to hear in the evening. Then one night something strange happens. You hear the nightly skittering as usual and start drifting off to sleep, but something is stopping you from falling into a deep and peaceful slumber. Something feels off. Something you can't quite put your finger on. It feels too...quiet. You listen closely and hear nothing. The usual skittering of the robot cannot be heard. You, curious about what could've happened get out of bed and turn on the light... only to find the robot right next to your bed, seemingly shut down. You pick up the tired robot and carry it to the kitchen. Then turn off the lights and go back to sleep.
My cats would be thrilled with their new toy! Either that or they’d see it come into the room and have a collective heart attack.
I think I agree with one of the comments in the post: "Another elegant solution to a non-existent problem". Sorry to be a party pooper, but... a) this greatly increases the chance to stomp/trip over your plant, b) the kind of compact, small, light-hungry plant suitable for this robot are NOT things you want to step on, c) it probably doesn't mesh well with pets like cats or dogs (as a substitute, on the other hand...), d) in most rooms, the brightest spot is trivial: in front of the window. No light-hunting necessary. A sort of trolley for the windowsill that moves the plant to the brightest spot there and extends a shade if necessary would probably be more practical (if you absolutely HAVE to choose an robotic solution), albeit admittedly not nearly as adorable. On another note, how many readers would be interested in a post titled "the right plant for your kind of neglect"?
One minor feature-addition would be a watering apparatus and some sort of load cell to tell the robot how much water the plant had been given.
Load More Replies...
I hope it also charges itself because if you cannot even keep a plant alive...
I like the idea, it's smart and the execution is cute and neutral so it'll fit into practically all households. However, I'm a bit of an arachnophobe so EEEEEEEEEEKK!!!!
I would enjoy having it, however, i can imagine me coming home after work, exhausted and this comes scampering towards in the middle of the night XD
I really like it and it seems like a good idea, but it's too expensive and I feel like I would lose my plant. Would be nice to have a plant robot as a pet though. It's still cute and someday if it was less expensive I would totally buy it.
Not a big fan of spiders. I set all I find in the house free. But this is so large, I'd forget about it, come across it half awake in the morning and try to set it and the house on fire. Great idea, though! .
Incredible talent to create such a robot. Unfortunately it reminds me of a spider and if it happened to brush against my leg in a search for sunbeams, Id smash it with a broom til it was dead.
I'm growing a phlox subulata, and it's starting to go yellow, because of lack of sunlight. Not a happy bunny. Could so do wuth one of these right now. :-/
Inventor: "I have a brilliant idea! Let's turn potted plants into evil cyborgs!" Assistant: "Isn't the water the plant needs a natural enemy of the robotics?" Scientist: "Silence, oaf!"
Six legs. It is an insect. Not a spider (All spiders have 8 legs). Still a bit terrifing!
Those dummies don't understand the reason he was created. It is very cool and I'm getting one!!
I was sold until it said it had a camera. I don't do cameras on electronics lol
Well I mean it IS a robot with AI and robots aren't common right now.
Load More Replies...
I NEED this! I am terrible about killing plants. If I had a robot that kept them in the sun for just the right amounts of time and reminded me to water I might not kill them all.
I don't really think that a sunlight-hunting robot would make the difference between life and death, most common house plants will do ok if they are placed in the right permanent spot regarding brightness. And also I'm actually convinced that a huge amount of people kill their plants by OVERwatering, which causes root rot. More difficult to spot than wilting.
Load More Replies...
who noticed the black shape thing...I think it is a camera? also, I want this, but the dogs and cat in my house ;-; will possibly break this I have a husky qwq well 5 dogs & 1 cat
Adorable, until its night... At night the robot scitters across your house....eventually you get used to it, and it becomes a normal sound to hear in the evening. Then one night something strange happens. You hear the nightly skittering as usual and start drifting off to sleep, but something is stopping you from falling into a deep and peaceful slumber. Something feels off. Something you can't quite put your finger on. It feels too...quiet. You listen closely and hear nothing. The usual skittering of the robot cannot be heard. You, curious about what could've happened get out of bed and turn on the light... only to find the robot right next to your bed, seemingly shut down. You pick up the tired robot and carry it to the kitchen. Then turn off the lights and go back to sleep.
My cats would be thrilled with their new toy! Either that or they’d see it come into the room and have a collective heart attack.
I think I agree with one of the comments in the post: "Another elegant solution to a non-existent problem". Sorry to be a party pooper, but... a) this greatly increases the chance to stomp/trip over your plant, b) the kind of compact, small, light-hungry plant suitable for this robot are NOT things you want to step on, c) it probably doesn't mesh well with pets like cats or dogs (as a substitute, on the other hand...), d) in most rooms, the brightest spot is trivial: in front of the window. No light-hunting necessary. A sort of trolley for the windowsill that moves the plant to the brightest spot there and extends a shade if necessary would probably be more practical (if you absolutely HAVE to choose an robotic solution), albeit admittedly not nearly as adorable. On another note, how many readers would be interested in a post titled "the right plant for your kind of neglect"?
One minor feature-addition would be a watering apparatus and some sort of load cell to tell the robot how much water the plant had been given.
Load More Replies... I hope it also charges itself because if you cannot even keep a plant alive...
I like the idea, it's smart and the execution is cute and neutral so it'll fit into practically all households. However, I'm a bit of an arachnophobe so EEEEEEEEEEKK!!!!
I would enjoy having it, however, i can imagine me coming home after work, exhausted and this comes scampering towards in the middle of the night XD
I really like it and it seems like a good idea, but it's too expensive and I feel like I would lose my plant. Would be nice to have a plant robot as a pet though. It's still cute and someday if it was less expensive I would totally buy it.
Not a big fan of spiders. I set all I find in the house free. But this is so large, I'd forget about it, come across it half awake in the morning and try to set it and the house on fire. Great idea, though! .
Incredible talent to create such a robot. Unfortunately it reminds me of a spider and if it happened to brush against my leg in a search for sunbeams, Id smash it with a broom til it was dead.
I'm growing a phlox subulata, and it's starting to go yellow, because of lack of sunlight. Not a happy bunny. Could so do wuth one of these right now. :-/
Inventor: "I have a brilliant idea! Let's turn potted plants into evil cyborgs!" Assistant: "Isn't the water the plant needs a natural enemy of the robotics?" Scientist: "Silence, oaf!"
Six legs. It is an insect. Not a spider (All spiders have 8 legs). Still a bit terrifing!
Those dummies don't understand the reason he was created. It is very cool and I'm getting one!!
I was sold until it said it had a camera. I don't do cameras on electronics lol
Well I mean it IS a robot with AI and robots aren't common right now.
Load More Replies... I NEED this! I am terrible about killing plants. If I had a robot that kept them in the sun for just the right amounts of time and reminded me to water I might not kill them all.
I don't really think that a sunlight-hunting robot would make the difference between life and death, most common house plants will do ok if they are placed in the right permanent spot regarding brightness. And also I'm actually convinced that a huge amount of people kill their plants by OVERwatering, which causes root rot. More difficult to spot than wilting.
Load More Replies... who noticed the black shape thing...I think it is a camera? also, I want this, but the dogs and cat in my house ;-; will possibly break this I have a husky qwq well 5 dogs & 1 cat
160
43