We caught up with the folks at Parrot today at CES and got a look at two new products that are designed to give a technological green thumb to even the most irresponsible plant owners. Parrot, who are best known for their drone helicopters and hands-free car kits, were displaying the Parrot Pot and the Parrot Flower Power H2O, a set of devices that use smart sensors to keep your plants thriving when you’re away from home or you simply forget to water them.
The Parrot Pot is billed as the most advanced connected plant pot available. On the outside, it looks like any other modern houseplant pot, but the Parrot Pot secretly hides a built-in water reservoir and an array of smart sensors that track soil moisture, temperature, sunlight exposure and fertilizer levels. By connecting to the smartphone app, the Parrot Pot can alert you if any of those parameters need adjustment, reminding you to water your plant or move it into or out of the sun. Or if you’d prefer, you can set the Pot to water itself, with the 2.2L reservoir containing up to a month’s worth of water for the typical houseplant.
Parrot Pot, the plant pot that waters itself.
For those who are interested in the technology but already own flower pots, Parrot offers a self-contained irrigation device called the Flower Power H2O. This gadget takes the idea behind the water globe that most horticulturists are familiar with (or the beer bottle method, as Josh mentioned) and upgrades it with modern features. The Flower Power H2O contains the same set of sensors as the Pot, in a small device shaped like a funnel. Simply poke it into the soil of your favorite plant, attach any typical plastic bottle—up to 2 liters—and the Flower Power H2O will monitor the plant and ensure it stays watered.
The Flower Power H2O, from Parrot.
True green thumbs might be skeptical about these devices, because every plant requires different levels of care. But Parrot thought of that when designing these systems. Within the accompanying app, users can choose from a database of over 8,000 plants to let the Pot or Flower Power know exactly what type of plant is being monitored. The app then decides how much water the plant should receive, as well as how often it should be watered and even the optimal time of day to do the watering. Users also get access to a library of helpful gardening tips, so when they do tend to their plants, they can be providing optimal growing conditions.
The Parrot Pot and Flower Power H2O will be available sometime this year.
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