Bizarre ‘Plant Machete’ Installation Uses Living Organism to Control a Robotic Arm

Designer David Bowen reveals ‘Plant Machete’, a bizarre installation that uses a real living organism to control a robotic arm. However, it’s not what you think, as this cannot be used for battle since the robotic arm moves purely based on electrical noises made by the plant, which means precision is not a priority.

That’s right, the electric signals recorded by the embedded patch sensors are automatically translated by the system into movement, resulting in the arm swinging the machete or just slicing a random section of air. What we’d like to see is some type of AI algorithm implemented that would be able to train itself and eventually, master the machete, but that can be a double edged sword, literally. For now, we’ll have to settle with the plant making random moves.