Outcome

Solution

This plant has two main features -

1) It is extremely sensitive to light. It will hold up a flag representing that it needs light if the light is too little. The plant owner then has the option of regulating the light reaching the plant using a potentiometer. This would be analogous to raising the blinds, drawing the curtains or changing the position of the plant to a better lit area. Once better lighting is restored the plant indicates that it is happy by raising the corresponding flag.

2) The plant loves spending time with you and listening to music! Pressing the button plays classical music for the plant which, according to several study's, helps the plant grow better. The plant uses its personal light to "sing along" with the tune. The plant will raise the corresponding flag when it's listening to music and send you a message of appreciation once its done. 

Approach

For this project, I wanted to account for an unusual yet realistic aspect of plant care - music helps plants! Several studies indicate that music helps plants grow faster. Vibrations from music have been found to help certain types of plants to grow up to 20% faster with increased biomass. Some studies even suggest that even though the music itself doesn't help, the act of being that involved with your plant results in you caring for it more, which leads to a healthier plant. 

I also wanted to make the plant capable of communicating its current mood. So whether it's listening to music, craving sunlight, or feeling content, it will raise a tiny flag to express it. This information is glanceable and engaging with use of lights and icons. 

Process

After determining the functionality for the plant, I worked one module at a time. 

Module 1: Adding a Servo and determining its three positions. 0 degrees for "Need light", 90 degrees for "Satisfied", and 180 degrees for "listening to music". 

Module 2: Integrating the photocell to sense light and control the servo.

Module 3: Integrating the potentiometer to control the light levels.

Module 4: Integrating the piezo and push-button to control it.

Module 5: Working on the external form.

Flow:

If the light is not enough - Indicate with flag and blinking light.

If the light is enough - Indicate with flag and steady light.

If the button is pressed, play music - Indicate with flag and the plants "sing-along" light. 

Implementation

Components used - 

• 1 Potentiometer
• 1 Switch
• 1 Piezo buzzer
• 1 Photocell
• 1 Servo motor
• Particle Argon
• 1 White LED
• 1 Blue LED
• 1 Red LED
• 2 10k Resistors
• 1 100k Resistor
• Jumper wires and a breadboard

Bill of materials, circuit, code, video, and images as follows:

An applet was created to appreciate the plant owner after listening to music together

The received SMS -

Next Steps

Currently only the light levels are monitored. Next steps could include checking moisture levels and temperature as well, and giving the plant a broader range of emotions to display on the flags. Further, the circuit currnetly supports just one tune. Having a wider range of tunes to choose from would be less monotonous as a single tune gets boring after a while.  Although the plant itself only displays abstract information, there should be a way for the user to access the exact details of the information, should they want to. 

Reflections

I enjoyed the process of building the project one module at a time and enjoyed discovering how to work new components. Building the form around the circuit breathed an entirely new life into the project and it helped everything come together. It was interesting to see how just small, simple things could create an object with so much life in it. I encountered a few challenges with the photocell because of its sensitivity which I was able to fix by changing the range of values I was testing. A few minor glitches along the way were resolved by testing separate parts of the code and finding the issue. 

References

Melody for the tune was obtained from GitHub  -  https://gist.github.com/spara/1832855

References made to the IoT Lab site for basic concepts - https://diotlabs.daraghbyrne.me/

Fritzing was used for the circuit diagram - https://fritzing.org/home/

Inspiration for the music - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/how-music-affects-plant-growth.htm