Do not taunt the philodendron. David Bowen attached three sensors to its leaves to measure the electrical resistance between them. When the system detects a change, it sends a signal to the plan's robotic arm to start slashing the machete it's holding.
"In this way, the movements of the machete are determined based on input from the plant," says Bowen. "Essentially the plant is the brain of the robot controlling the machete determining how it swings, jabs, slices and interacts in space."
[Via Clive Thompson]
