Tomatodachi Christine McGahhey • Phys. Comp. Proj.

Final Project Idea

Plants keep you healthy and happy

● Some people are afraid of having house plants because they don’t want to kill them. But this worry is keeping you from all of the benefits plants provide!

● Having plants in your home decreases chances of depression, allergies, getting sick and gives you better air quality. They also can keep you company and brighten up any room that you live in.

Don’t use the internet and basic “How-To” guides alone

People try to learn how to care for plants by reading or looking for help online after it’s already too late. While people make jokes about it constantly, there is a desire to know how to do it properly.

Don’t be afraid of caring for plants any longer, and don’t find it boring or think of it as a chore, but as a fun daily part of life and a connection that you get to have with nature in the digital age.

Combining Plants and Technology

● Add sensors to a special pot for a plant to go in, to monitor its health and let you know when it needs your help

● Creates a virtual “avatar” of your plant to communicate with you

● Connect the sensor and the LCD screen so that the readings send you messages on the screen

● When something seems to be wrong (water, temperature, etc.) it will show messages and react with light/sound

The Technology Exists and can be used in new ways

Smart pots, gardening guides, and digital plant and animal care games are already on the market but are not being utilized together. With smart planters people don’t actually learn how to care for them themselves and only let technology do the work, or the plant is digital object and users may feel no strong connection to them. But giving a digital personality to a plant may make it feel more connected and give motivation to care for it.

Water me dummy

Sensor for moisture and temperature

Sends you a message on the LCD screen when it needs help, flashes, and makes sounds

Main Parts: Pot, sensor, and LCD screen

Cultivate a relationship and Vegetables

Create a more personal connection to your plant and feel as though it needs you to care for it, because it does. Instead of wondering what it needs let your plant tell you, and thank you when you do a good job.

Don’t just grow tomatoes, grow a relationship with your plant and a connection to nature in a modern way.

Tomatodachi is a new way for your plant to communicate its needs to you before it’s too late

● Grove moisture sensor inside of the pot sends a signal to the arduino when the soil is too dry. When the Arduino receives a signal it will react based on it (need water, happy, too warm, etc.)

● Always know when your plant is in trouble and needs some TLC and learn how to care for it on your own and have fun watching it’s little avatar talk with you

Moisture Sensor Arduino Reads the signal

Sends signal to the LCD screen The pot reacts to

the signal

Plant gets watered or shows gratitude

Timeline Draft

November - Test out moisture sensor with a buzzer and bluetooth signals separately.

Week 1: Order parts and look up tutorials Week 2-3: Connect moisture sensor to buzzer, LEDs, and LCD screenWeek 4: Create unique texts for each kind of reading

December - Try to connect them so that they work together and fabricate a nice pot for the exhibition.

Week 1: Test to make sure it works and that it’s giving the right signals/reactions

Week 2: Fabricate the pot to make it look polished and buy (fake) tomato plant for exhibition