Design and Experimental Study of a Device that Allows Urban Gardeners to Understand What Their Plants May Be 'Feeling'

摘要

Urban Residential Gardening is a type of agriculture in which, generally, a person cultivates plants in his residence for either an alimentary, medicinal, or ornamental purpose. Previous research on computing in urban agriculture has focused on automation and production. However, the urban residential gardener cultivates for leisure and is not interested in production gains. This study identifies the urban residential gardener's habit of talking to his plants and proposes the design of a device (PlV) to enrich this experience. The PlV uses sensors to probe the environmental conditions of the plant and infers whether, under such conditions, the plant should be "happy" or "sad". An experimental study with 14 urban residential gardeners, using the PlV for the first time in a time period of six days, suggests that under these conditions the design has the potential to positively change the gardening experience.