Post by account_disabled on Mar 15, 2024 22:58:37 GMT -5
Elowan is a cybernetic life form, a plant in direct dialogue with a machine. Using its own internal electrical signals, the plant is interconnected with a robotic extension that propels it toward the light.
Plants are electrically active systems. They are bioelectrochemically excited and conduct these signals between tissues and organs. These electrical signals are produced in response to changes in light, gravity, mechanical stimulation, temperature, wounds, and other environmental conditions.
Long-lasting evolutionary processes change an organism's traits based on its fitness in the environment. In recent history, humans domesticated certain plants, selecting desired species based on spe Caseno Email List cific traits. Some became houseplants, while others were adapted to agricultural practice.
From natural habitats to microclimates , the environments of these plants have been significantly altered. As humans, we rely on technological enhancements to adjust our fitness to the environment. However, the acceleration of evolution through technology must move from a human-centered vision to a holistic nature-centered vision.
Elowan is an attempt to demonstrate what the rise of nature could mean. Elowan's robotic base is a new symbiotic partnership with a plant. The agency of movement lies with the plant based on its own bioelectrochemical signals, the language here interconnected with the artificial world.
These, in turn, trigger physiological variations such as elongation of growth, respiration and moisture absorption. In this experimental setup called elowan, electrodes are inserted into the regions of interest (stems and soil, leaf and soil). The weak signals are amplified and sent to the robot to trigger movements in the respective directions.
Such symbiotic interaction with the artificial could be further extended with exogenous extensions that provide nutrition, growth frameworks, and new defense mechanisms.
About Cyborg Botany
Cyborg Botany is a new convergent vision of interaction design in nature. Our primary means of detecting and displaying interactions in the environment is through our artificial electronics. However, there are a plethora of such capabilities that already exist in nature. Plants, for example, are active signaling networks that are self-powered, self-manufactured, self-regenerative systems at scale.
They have the best kind of capabilities that an electronic device could have. Instead of building completely discrete systems, the new paradigm points towards using the capabilities that exist in plants (and nature in general) and creating hybrids with our digital world.
Interview Sareen about her project and her vision of a cybernetic plant world. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What first motivated you to build Elowan, a cyborg plant?
Harpreet Sareen: I have been interested in two aspects of nature research. One is how we study nature's capabilities to power our future new interaction devices. Right now, we build everything from the artificial world. It's a very industrial way of thinking. We artificially designed everything from scratch.
"I WANTED TO SHOW WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF PLANTS COULD WALK LIKE A HUMAN."
In my research, I found many capabilities that we can use in the natural world. For example, plants actually have electrical signals inside them that are similar to artificial circuits. That inspired me to think about new capabilities. So I wanted to show what it would be like if the plant had mobility or could walk like a human, but could be powered by the plant itself. Elowan was born there
elowan
How can you translate the plant's electrical signals into movement?
Plants respond to many environmental factors. In the morning, for example, plants try to orient themselves towards the sun to the east. As the sun continues to move during the day, they reorient themselves more to get maximum sunlight.
So, they respond to things like light conditions, changes in gravity, impurities in the soil, and insects that try to eat their leaves. When that happens, the plant tries to communicate internally with its other organs. That communication is an electrical signal. It is actually a bioelectrochemical signal.
With Elowan, I placed circuits in the plant to read those signals, and I could read them simply by touching the plant or changing its environment. I found that their signals were really clear when I changed their light conditions. For elowan, I have lamps installed in any direction, which I turn on and off. During the transition, the signal is produced and that signal travels to the robot to make the robot move left and right.
Plants are electrically active systems. They are bioelectrochemically excited and conduct these signals between tissues and organs. These electrical signals are produced in response to changes in light, gravity, mechanical stimulation, temperature, wounds, and other environmental conditions.
Long-lasting evolutionary processes change an organism's traits based on its fitness in the environment. In recent history, humans domesticated certain plants, selecting desired species based on spe Caseno Email List cific traits. Some became houseplants, while others were adapted to agricultural practice.
From natural habitats to microclimates , the environments of these plants have been significantly altered. As humans, we rely on technological enhancements to adjust our fitness to the environment. However, the acceleration of evolution through technology must move from a human-centered vision to a holistic nature-centered vision.
Elowan is an attempt to demonstrate what the rise of nature could mean. Elowan's robotic base is a new symbiotic partnership with a plant. The agency of movement lies with the plant based on its own bioelectrochemical signals, the language here interconnected with the artificial world.
These, in turn, trigger physiological variations such as elongation of growth, respiration and moisture absorption. In this experimental setup called elowan, electrodes are inserted into the regions of interest (stems and soil, leaf and soil). The weak signals are amplified and sent to the robot to trigger movements in the respective directions.
Such symbiotic interaction with the artificial could be further extended with exogenous extensions that provide nutrition, growth frameworks, and new defense mechanisms.
About Cyborg Botany
Cyborg Botany is a new convergent vision of interaction design in nature. Our primary means of detecting and displaying interactions in the environment is through our artificial electronics. However, there are a plethora of such capabilities that already exist in nature. Plants, for example, are active signaling networks that are self-powered, self-manufactured, self-regenerative systems at scale.
They have the best kind of capabilities that an electronic device could have. Instead of building completely discrete systems, the new paradigm points towards using the capabilities that exist in plants (and nature in general) and creating hybrids with our digital world.
Interview Sareen about her project and her vision of a cybernetic plant world. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What first motivated you to build Elowan, a cyborg plant?
Harpreet Sareen: I have been interested in two aspects of nature research. One is how we study nature's capabilities to power our future new interaction devices. Right now, we build everything from the artificial world. It's a very industrial way of thinking. We artificially designed everything from scratch.
"I WANTED TO SHOW WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF PLANTS COULD WALK LIKE A HUMAN."
In my research, I found many capabilities that we can use in the natural world. For example, plants actually have electrical signals inside them that are similar to artificial circuits. That inspired me to think about new capabilities. So I wanted to show what it would be like if the plant had mobility or could walk like a human, but could be powered by the plant itself. Elowan was born there
elowan
How can you translate the plant's electrical signals into movement?
Plants respond to many environmental factors. In the morning, for example, plants try to orient themselves towards the sun to the east. As the sun continues to move during the day, they reorient themselves more to get maximum sunlight.
So, they respond to things like light conditions, changes in gravity, impurities in the soil, and insects that try to eat their leaves. When that happens, the plant tries to communicate internally with its other organs. That communication is an electrical signal. It is actually a bioelectrochemical signal.
With Elowan, I placed circuits in the plant to read those signals, and I could read them simply by touching the plant or changing its environment. I found that their signals were really clear when I changed their light conditions. For elowan, I have lamps installed in any direction, which I turn on and off. During the transition, the signal is produced and that signal travels to the robot to make the robot move left and right.