Who is it? Oh, it's just my plant saying it needs to be watered

A lot of research projects are strange, but this one is so strange that it is interesting. A bunch of postgraduates from New York University have developed a system that allows your plants to "call" and warn you when they need to be watered.

This technology is based on a set of moisture sensors placed in the plant's soil that can detect if the plant has to much or needs water.

At this point, this seems to be a very reasonable technology. But instead of creating a simple light flashing warning sign in the plant to let you know that she's in trouble, the students decided that these sensors would send a signal over a wireless network to a gateway that places a call to the owner of the plant.

The reason for this? To make the relation with your plant a little bit more personal.

"Recorded voices are assigned to each plant to match its biological characteristics and to help increase the charm of the phone message and give plants their own personality."

Plants can even have funny or sensual accents. Imagine what it would be like to get a call from you plant with that very sexy sensual voice saying: "Com'on baby! Water me...I want it! I need it!" :-)

Source: Reuters Technology News