It is half robot, half garden and has no fixed address, so it can roll over to a separate part of the city which it feels is less polluted.
‘Hortum machina, B’, also known, in regular speak, as ‘Garden machine, Bucky’, is a nomadic, self-driving and self-culti-vating garden.
The brainchild of two former University College London students, Maltese architect William Victor Camilleri and his colleague Danilo Sampaio, it is a three-metre spherical robot that is driven by the plants living inside it.
Using a network of electrodes to monitor the plant’s physiological responses to their environment, the structure is able to interpret the collective needs of the garden and move itself accordingly.
‘Hortum machina, B’ rolls because plants become stimulated by their surrounding environment, whether it’s a lighting transition, a difference in temperature, humidity or distress.
The system observes a significant change from the plants, analyses the external daylight conditions through multiple sensors and the sphere reacts, Mr Camilleri, who teaches at the college’s Bartlett School of Architecture, told this newspaper.
If the sensors note a considerable amount of light, the sphere rotates to accommodate the plants. If it realises that there is an overcast sky, it will look for new spots of sun. And if it notes all-round darkness, then it stops its movements for the day.
“The plants will react to everything and in the case of invasive species, we like to believe that the sphere will live in symbiosis with the natural world, in the sense that it wouldn’t try to defend itself.
If the plants experience sudden distress, the sphere would roll away to search of a new location
“However, if the plants experience sudden distress, the sphere would roll away to search for a new location,” he added.
The prototype is currently being tweaked after it was deployed and closely tested on the parks and streets of London.
Can it be adapted for the Maltese climate?
Danilo Sampaio and William Victor Camilleri in their ‘Hortum machina, B’.‘Hortum machina, B’ is only the first prototype of the research and new ideas are already flooding in.
“It’s intriguing to imagine distinct versions of the species in several countries, building a library of evolving data and behaviour in their diverse habitats.
“Obviously, the notion of having a Maltese iteration thrills me and I would definitely consider building one... I can easily imagine it rolling in Ta’ Qali National Park.”
Since the project was conceived in the UK, ‘Hortum machina, B’ is equipped with native British plants.
Considering that most gardens and parks are confined to limited boundaries, and these are mostly inhabited and dominated by non-native plants, ‘Hortum machina, B’ is a potential urban cyber-gardener, moving around the city repopulating native species by discovering suitable micro-climates.
The research that bred ‘Hortum machina, B’ was part of a 12 month Masters programme in Architectural Design, within the Interactive Architecture Lab at the college’s Bartlett School of Architecture.
The fabrication and implementation process lasted around six months under the supervision of Ruairi Glynn, supported by Dr Chris Leung, William Bondin and Francois Mangion.