One Japanese Company Is Developing a Smart Plant

In case you didn’t know it, there are officially no more excuses for you to suck at taking care of plants: On the heels of the world’s first smart planters comes bons-AI, an artificially intelligent plant that practically eliminates the need for a green thumb and makes the job ten times easier for self-proclaimed crappy plant caretakers.

Japanese company TDK engineered their smart plant with tools that work in conjunction with its inherent intelligence (i.e. photosynthesis). Unlike your average plant, there’s no need to position it perfectly so that it catches life-giving sun rays. Bons-AI is equipped with an axis sensor that allows it to remain stable while it maneuvers itself until it’s in the ideal spot for light absorption. A miniature camera is responsible for the plant’s movements, and an LED panel will illuminate once the plant has achieved its most favorable sun-soaking position.

Research shows that talking to your plants can help them grow, but bons-AI takes this notion one step further by returning the favor (because you’ve totally been in search of a plant that talks back). Not only will it hold a full-on conversation with you, but it doles out inspirational words of wisdom through its miniature speaker, making it part plant, part life guru. Other features include a wireless electricity supply device, a microcomputer, a base equipped with condensers, and a flexible solar cell containing a light sensor and power supply.

The bons-AI plant is a part of TDK’s “Attracting Tomorrow” initiative, which “hopes to develop various tools and content that to bring us closer to the future,” Designboom reports.

That being said, will this artificial intelligence approach be more effective than your favorite horticulturist’s old-fashioned houseplant watering tips? We’ll have to wait and see whether bons-AI makes it beyond the concept stage.