The International Consumer Electronics Show (2015 CES) opened today in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES is a global stage featuring the latest tech innovations in consumer-friendly products. Exhibitors from over 140 countries will be announcing nearly 20,000 new products at the big show that runs until Jan. 9.
Frederic Lardinois with Tech Crunch interviewed the CEO of Parrot, Henri Seydoux, on Saturday. Seydoux explained that drones and automotive innovations are not the only interests the company has. Basically, the company is interested in everything that connects to a person’s smartphone, including plants.
It is for this reason that Parrot is introducing two new additions to their current Flower Power product line. One is the Pot, and the other is the H2O. The Pot is quite innovative and ideal for those who have delicate plants that require fertilizer, temperature and moisture control. As its name implies, it is a robotic pot, and quite tall. About a foot tall, the pot has built-in sensors that can read the level of fertilizer, temperature, and moisture in the soil every 15 minutes.
The Parrot Pot holds two liters of water, think the size of a two-liter bottle of soda. The water is poured into a nozzle on the side of the pot and is enough to supply water for about three weeks. You can either set the App on automatic, and the pot takes care of everything for you or you can water the plant whenever you want by tapping on a button.
The Parrot H2O is the bare-bones version of the Pot. The big difference is how the plant is watered. The H2O’s water is held in a bottle beside the pot and plugs into the pot. Not as tall as the Pot, the H2O is more the size of a regular flower pot. It also has a sensor that sticks in the soil. Both the Pot and H2O can work autonomously, or they can be connected to your smartphone. If you do this, data is transferred to Parrot’s cloud platform for analysis.
Seydoux says that Parrot has a database of over 7,000 plants, including cacti, ficus, and just about any other plant you may have. Seydoux also says that if you are gone from home more than three weeks, the sensors will go into conservation mode, reducing the amount of water fed to the plant. One possible drawback to the Pot is that it is only Bluetooth compatible. This means that you can’t water your plants if you’re not at home. But, it does use a battery.
Prices and availability are not something that Seydoux was interested in discussing. He did say the new devices are consumer products, and that the current Flower Power device, basically the H2O without the watering function, is available for $59.99. Lardinois writes that he is guessing the H2O will run about $20.00 more, and the Parrot Pot may retail for around $200.
