Flower robot
Encyclopedia
In home automation
Home automation
Home automation is the residential extension of "building automation". It is automation of the home, housework or household activity. Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC , appliances, and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and...
systems and robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
, a flower robot is a simple electromechanical device with the appearance of a common flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
, with components such as stem
Plant stem
A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...
and leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
. First developed by Berufsbildende Schule 1 Kaiserslautern in 2006 and later by Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
in 2007, flower robots are used as intelligent home appliances, with capabilities such as sensing, simple actuation for movements, and effectors such as lights or humidifier
Humidifier
A humidifier is a household appliance that increases humidity in a single room or in the entire house. There are point-of-use humidifiers, which are commonly used to humidify a single room, and whole-house or furnace humidifiers, which connect to a home's HVAC system to provide humidity to the...
.
Overview
Similar to a flower, the robotic flower contains components such stems and leaves, with small sensors and effectors embedded in the structure. The flower robot developed at Carnegie Mellon University utilized a seven degree of freedom structure, with one used to move the stem towards the left and right, and six other for moving the leaves. Built using simple DC servoServomechanism
thumb|right|200px|Industrial servomotorThe grey/green cylinder is the [[Brush |brush-type]] [[DC motor]]. The black section at the bottom contains the [[Epicyclic gearing|planetary]] [[Reduction drive|reduction gear]], and the black object on top of the motor is the optical [[rotary encoder]] for...
s, the base structure of the robot actuates the leaves, and uses the IR sensors built in on three of its petals to track objects.
Designed as an intelligent home appliance, the robotic flower has a variety of different functions. Primarily, the flower robot is used as a background sensing device, as it contains sensors for temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
, voice and light intensity. Unlike other sensors with similar purpose, the appearance of the flower robot makes it easier blend into various rooms, providing more convenient control and accurate results. In addition, the flower robot is capable of small movements using its servos, which can be used to mimic the blooming flower and the stirring of leaves in the wind, creating an aesthetically pleasing environment. Other functions of the flower robot include vision or voice recording, illumination and the use of a scent emitter and a humidifier.
Development
The development of the flower power robot has sparked interests in the shape memory alloyShape memory alloy
A shape-memory alloy is an alloy that "remembers" its original, cold-forged shape: returning the pre-deformed shape by heating. This material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems...
research, as such smart materials can better approximate the motions of a real flower. A group of Korean researchers proposed at the 2007 International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics the design of a new flower power robot with such materials, and an improvement in performance of the flower robot were shown by numerical simulations.