Plant Connected to Electrical Wheelchair Runs From Potential Harm

Ivan Henriques is the creator of a very original project that involves the use of a special plant called Mimosa pudica.

The inventor came up with a technology called the Jurema Action Plant (JAP). It is worth mentioning that Mimosa pudica is a rare plant that can feel touch stimulus and react to it by moving its leaves.

Together with Professor Bert van Duijn from Leiden University, Henriques improved the plants responsiveness using the features of a motorized wheelchair.

Here's how the technology works: when you touch the plant, the natural reaction of the plant is captures by an electromagnetic amplifier and the electric wheelchair drives the plant away from harm.

It would be interesting to note that nothing in the plant was altered. Instead the naturally occurring process has been simply exaggerated using modern design.

According to Henriques, the invention represents a combination of "plants' fragility and a machine's strength". But if we dig deeper we may notice that the technology is much more than that - it represents prosthesis for an organism that was born with no legs.

[via FastCoDesign]