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IoT Solution for Plant Care

Plant Island is a mobile game that gives plants a voice, making the process of caring for houseplants fun and interactive. The application is connected to a hardware sensor via Wi-Fi. The sensor measures the plants’ well-being and uses that information in the game to inform the plant owner about the plants’ needs. The project was conducted as a student project at Aalto University in 2022.

Plant Island helps plant owners to raise happy and healthy plants

The aim of the project was to design and create a prototype for an Internet of Things (IoT) solution, which includes hardware, software, and connectivity technologies. In this project, the hardware includes a moisture sensor that identifies the watering needs of the plant. The game guides the user through the setup of the sensor and teaches them how to take care of the plant using gamified features.

Prototype

Sensor array and hardware development

A moisture sensor prototype integrated with an ESP32 development board and an OLED display. This sensor measured soil moisture and transmitted the data via Wi-Fi to the mobile application. (Main responsible from this stage: Tommy Vanhanen)

Cloud

The data from the soil moisture sensor was transmitted to the cloud. The prototype used Wi-Fi connectivity to communicate with cloud backend.

Mobile application

Focused on a user-friendly, intuitive, and gamified design for easy onboarding and plant management. The prototype was created in Figma (Main responsible from this stage: Linnea Seeskari)

User testing

Rapid Low-Fidelity prototyping of the user experience from the application. The prototype of the application was hand-drawn to test the design concept, user flow, and basic interaction with the app (Responsible from this stage: the whole team)

Untitled_Artwork — Storyboard of the the interaction between a user, a plant care sensor, and a gamified mobile app

Support for every plant care stage

Censoring water deficiency

The hardware sensors the soil moisture level and informs the app if the plant needs more watering.

Watering the plant connects to the app

When watering the real houseplant, the application informs when the soil has the right moisture level.

Award points from plantcare

Taking care of the houseplant gives award points which can be used in in-game purchases.

Try the prototype:

Click the prototype and try its functions. (All the visuals in the app are self-produced except the main avatar, which is a placeholder asset from Animal Crossing)

Responsibilities

The project was conducted in collaboration with Tommy Vanhanen (technology student), Juan Arce Camino (business student), and Jaana Talja (business student). My main responsibility in the project was to design the UI/UX for the application.