At CES, Parrot automates plant care with a water bottle
At CES, Parrot unveils two new smart garden products that make automatic watering elegantly simple.
LAS VEGAS -- At CES tonight, Parrot unveiled a new version of its plant sensor, offering the simplest automated watering solution of any connected garden product yet. With their previous product, the Parrot Flower Power , you could monitor moisture levels, fertilizer, sunlight, and temperature just by placing their sensor into the dirt near your plant. Now, with the Parrot H2O, you'll be able to automate the watering process, simply by attaching an ordinary water bottle to the top of the sensor.
At its display booth at the 2015 International CES, the solution appears remarkably simple and elegant. Other smart garden tools do let you water automatically. The upcoming Edyn will have a separate attachment that you screw into a garden hose. Alternatively, Rachio and Blossom provide connected controllers that can manage your home's sprinkler system. The Parrot H2O requires no extra high-tech parts or pieces. Screw a water bottle into the the top of the sensor for the ultimate in simplified garden care.
The Parrot Pot
Parrot also introduced a self-watering planter at CES. The Parrot Pot senses moisture levels, fertilizer, sunlight and temperature just like the in the dirt version. With this planter, the dirt and roots sit on top of a reservoir that will regulate getting moisture to your favorite flowers.
Self-watering planters are somewhat common. Lechuza is a popular brand. AliGro and Ohneka Farms Root recently announced more advanced models. AliGro attaches to a hose so you never need to fill it, and Root takes care of fertilizer in addition to water for up to 16 plants.
Customized care
Parrot gains an advantage with its environmental sensors and its app. The plant database in the app can help you identify and care for your specific variety, customizing its advice about nutrients accordingly. It's a planter and a plant sensor that gets to know your plant.
Both the Parrot H2O and the Parrot Pot will communicate with the Parrot app via Bluetooth. Since it doesn't use Wi-Fi to connect to the cloud, it'll limit your ability to monitor and water your plant remotely. I had trouble with this limitation when testing the Flower Power, and was disappointed Parrot didn't add Wi-Fi.
You might need to be relatively close to interact with the Parrot H2O or the Parrot Pot, but since they can care for your plant for you, and thus require less intervention on your part, that's a fair trade.
Outlook
For taking care of your plants, Parrot's promising a simple system that gets to know your specific species, and handles the day to day maintenance with an everyday water bottle. If they work as promised, Parrot's new plant care devices will be great options for customized care with little effort.
Neither the Parrot H2O or the Parrot Pot have prices or release dates yet.
