The Cyberflora project is a project developed by the Media Lab

Media lab

Media lab is a term used for interdisciplinary organizations, collectives or spaces with the main focus on new media, digital culture and technology....

 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

. The project is part of the Anima Machina program at MIT - a program that was developed by Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and Director of the Robotic Life Group Cynthia Breazeal

Cynthia Breazeal

Cynthia Lynn Breazeal is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is the director of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Laboratory...

. The Cyberflora project allowed Breazeal and students involved in the media lab to investigate emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a skill or ability in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most...

 in a breed of robots that combines both plant and animal characteristics.

The Garden

Breazeal's mechanical flower garden is composed of four "species" of robotic flora. Each species is an amalgamation of animal-like conduct and flower-like attributes that is put into a robotic representation that is fully aware of its surrounding environment and can respond to stimuli in a "life-like and distinct manner." Electromechanical systems hidden within the flowers' shells "allow petals to open and close and tentacles to reach or retreat in response to human movement." Soft music, varied throughout the exhibit, is played in the background as people interact with flora.

The flowers in the garden use technologies such as capacitive sensing

Capacitive sensing

In electrical engineering, capacitive sensing is a technology based on capacitive coupling that is used in many different types of sensors, including those to detect and measure: proximity, position or displacement, humidity, fluid level, and acceleration...

 and thermal sensors to react to human hands and bodies elsewhere in the room.

Design team

• Cynthia Breazeal
  Cynthia Breazeal
  Cynthia Lynn Breazeal is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is the director of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Laboratory...
  
   - Project lead
• Jeff Lieberman - Design lead
• Ryan Kavanaugh - Graphic design
• Heather Knight - Undergraduate
• Blake Brasher - Undergraduate
• Dan McAnulty - Undergraduate

Exhibits

Cyberflora was debuted in April 2003 at the National Design Triennial which was hosted by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution, is the United States' national museum of design history and contemporary design and the only museum in the U.S. whose collection is solely focused on contemporary and historic design...

in New York City, New York. The exhibit began on April 22, 2003 and ended on January 25, 2004.

External links

• Cyberflora Video installation in the National Design Triennial