Plant Alert
In a society that occupies oneself with a constant drive to maintain financial stability, aim for accrual in academic qualifications, and the need to remain engaged in social commitments, very minimal time is left for leisure activities and to simply “do nothing”, which usually refers to staying home without the worries of having to attend to prior commitments.
This results in the lack of hobbies that people adopt as a source of stress relief or to alleviate fatigue from the busyness of our daily lives. A leisure activity that could have the potential to become a solution to this growing issue is gardening. As a result of gardening, plants (of all types) are produced over time, which not only has possible medicinal effects, social and health benefits, or more simply described as “satisfying” (the growth process from a minuscule seed to a produce, whether flower or nourishment).
After a quick survey around people between the ages of 22–26, the primary issue found with gardening is that in a world where everything almost appears fairly instantaneously and everyone is positioned in a fast-paced environment, there are too little patience left to observe the growing process of just a plant and not enough time dedicated to making that commitment. If by any chance, people take the initiative to invest in growing a plant, it is very difficult to uphold that commitment, simply because it is mostly forgotten about.
PlantLink
It all started in 2011 with a basil plant we couldn’t keep alive… We want to make taking care of plants an easy and enjoyable experience — Creators of PlantLink (http://www.myplantlink.com/)
This is where a piece of technology, a small device, called the PlantLink has the potential to become a solution to this problem created in an attempt to maintain and uphold the commitment of gardening.
The aim and purpose of the PlantLink is to monitor the plant linked and notify plant owners of its needs, through the use of a soil moisture sensor. As the owner, you are required to input a name for your plant (could just be the type of plant) into the system so that once there is a need, an email/text message will be sent to your phone/computer which has been personalised with the plant’s name, as if to say that the plant itself is reminding the owner of their needs just as a human being would — a great way to add that extra connection between the plant and the human, as well as the technology and the human. This is a subtle use of technology in a way that could prevent potentially disrupting the user’s pre-existing connection with gardening but rather as a personal assistant at times of need.
An additional feature is the use of the PlantLink Valve, an automated watering system in the case that the owner is unable to attend their plant’s need of water. The most impressive quality of this feature is that it seeks data of the local weather before activating the automated watering system. In order to keep track of the plant/s and its current updates in relation to watering, the owners are able to access this information through an app.
Gardening of the Future
There is great potential for PlantLink, with the primary target users as plant owners who are occupied with the busyness of their daily lives and beginner gardeners. However, there is also a potential for this piece of technology to assist those with memory-related disabilities, i.e. dementia, or just simply for someone who is forgetful, regardless of age.
The PlantLink could have relevance to community garden where each person is able to grow a plant of their own and attach this device to it as a means to claim ownership of that plant. The user/owner is able to then keep monitoring their plant and when coming up to water their plants, there could be some social benefits by talking to a fellow plant owner of their respective plants as a method of an icebreaker. Through the device, the owner will gain long-term memory benefits just from the frequent daily or even hourly reminders.
