One of the canonical definitions of plants is that they are essentially "heliotropic". This means that plants tend to orient themselves towards the sunlight to capture the precious rays that are absolutely crucial to their life.
Unfortunately, however, they certainly cannot tear themselves away from the roots and take a walk towards the light when they are completely covered by shade, or left in a pot to rot in the dark. At least until Hexa arrives.
This is where it enters the scene Sun Tianqi, a researcher who works in the field of robotics, neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Sun (nomen omen, the Latins said) is the founder of vincross, the company that created Hexa a year ago.
Hexa, the vase that carries plants around
As Tianqi says in a post on his droid that moves alone in search of the beneficial light, “With a robotic base carrying them around, plants can experience mobility and interaction.”
And the little Hexa does just that: it's a robot pot with legs, which moves towards the sunlight to keep the lucky plant it has planted in good health.
When they say “have a good relationship with Nature"
I find the project really adorable. A way to bring plants closer to children, and to people in general. A mechanism that "animalizes" plants may not be the best on an ethical level, but on an educational level it can have its say.
On the other hand, the creator of the droid himself also says it: “I hope the Hexa project can inspire the relationship between technology and natural defaults.”
You have never played like this with a plant
Not only can Hexa move to the sunlight when needed, but it also performs a cute dance (or starts doing tantrums) when it needs to be watered.
The robot can also “play” with humans, and stand alone in the shade when it needs to cool down.
