RFID Watering Can

Plants are sometimes given as gifts. The giver of a gift is not supposed to doubt that the gift will be cared for. The recipient wants the giver to know the gift is in good hands.

Working with Susan Ibreck at an RFID workshop, we developed a device which lets the giver know you are taking care of their thoughtful present. Each plant has an RFID tag. When the plant is watered, the tag is read by the watering can. When watering can is later plugged into the USB cable, an email message is sent to the person who gave the gift.

While a USB watering can that reads RFID tags is ridiculous, we proposed that an object tracking a mundane physical action like watering your plants could communicate an emotionally charged bit of information. Your commitment (or lack of commitment) to your friends generosity becomes explicit.