Plant Controls Machete Using a Robotic Arm

The designer wanted the plant to be the brain of the robot.

Plant Machete, a fascinating installation by artist David Bowen, allows a plant to move a knife through an industrial robotic arm. It might sound like science fiction, but actually it is now reality: the control system “reads and utilizes the electrical noises found in a live philodendron” using a microcontroller. The electrical signals gathered are then converted by the machine into movements real time. Different electrical signals mean different movements, including swinging, jabbing and slicing.

Plant Machete is installed on a wall, with sensors attached to the leaves, which send signals to custom-crafted software. The software then maps these signals to the movements of the joints of the robotic arm and the machete. In this way, the movements of the machete are determined based on input from the plant, so the plant essentially acts as the brain of the robot controlling the machete.

Bowen filmed the piece in action, and it’s mindboggling to watch the robotic arm move knowing that every one of its actions is dictated not by humans or AI, but by a houseplant. Who would have expected greenery to assert this level of control?

Bowen’s portfolio is focused on the point where natural and mechanical systems meet. “With robotics, custom software, sensors, telepresence, and data, I construct devices and situations that are set in motion to interface with the physical, virtual, and natural world,” he says. “The devices I construct often play both the roles of observer and creator, providing limited and mechanical perspectives of dynamic situations and living systems…The phenomenological outputs are collaborations between the natural form or function, the mechanism, and the artist.”