It’s not that you don’t have a green thumb — you just don’t have the time to take care of your garden. As much as you may care about horticulture, it’s not your fault that you can’t monitor your backyard 24/7, keeping tabs on what needs more water when. But now, lack of time is no longer an excuse for not having some greenery in your life thanks to GardenSpace, a 21st-century answer to a garden gnome.
This bot is much taller than a gnome and promises a lot more functionality. Using a 360-degree swivel cam, GardenSpace promises to do what you can’t — keep an eye on your plants at all hours of the day. Using the tool promises to be quite straightforward as well, as you simply need to connect GardenSpace to your water space and sync it to your Wi-Fi. From there, you will be able to control the bot from the companion app (though let’s be honest, you’re just going to let it do its thing).
Like your plants, GardenSpace is powered by the sun. Rather than worrying yourself with battery swaps or power outlets, you need only to ensure that GardenSpace is positioned in such a way that it can soak up the energy provided by everyone’s favorite star.
Promising to help with the upkeep of up to 100 square feet (which is capable of growing around $700 of produce a year), GardenSpace claims to be the “first step toward a successful yield.” With the app, you can tell the bot what you’re growing and GardenSpace will then keep tabs on various plants’ health by monitoring chlorophyll levels and the temperature of both the plant and the soil. And because GardenSpace catalogs your plants, it knows when to water and, more importantly, when to stop.
GardenSpace derives its information from an infrared thermometer, an infrared camera, and a normal RGB camera that is mounted on its swiveling head. While it keeps your garden watered during the day, it can also double as a sentry at night. Seeing as it is always on (and always monitoring), if the bot detects any pests using its motion-detecting sensors, it will scare them away with a burst of water.
You can pre-order GardenSpace now from Kickstarter for $239, with delivery anticipated in October 2018.
