Everyone on this planet (or at least in Singapore) has attempted growing a plant at least once in their lives. It could have been your primary school science project, a gift from your mom to improve your home's feng shui, or a cute succulent meant to spruce up your bedroom. Unfortunately, a vast majority of those plants meet an untimely demise, not from old age, but at the hands of inexperienced yet aspiring plant owners. Such plant owners need a more encouraging and fail-safe approach to grow their plants.
NAMU is a start-up developed by my Entrepreneurship Capstone Team in my penultimate year at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Our solution, the NAMU Buddy, is a seamless plant monitoring device paired with a mobile application that empowers aspiring plant owners to keep their plants healthy. Our innovation revolutionises plant care by offering insights into plant health, and tailoring care tips and reminders. The NAMU Buddy eliminates the guesswork of plant needs and enables plant owners to nurture their plants confidently anytime, anywhere.
Plants with Dignity
Empathising with the plants' potential struggles in the hands of inexperienced owners, I wanted my product to encourage users to treat plants with more dignity and respect - to value plants' lives the same as pet animals. Most aspiring plant owners are drawn to plants for their aesthetic appeal, low maintenance needs, and stress-reducing benefits. The least we could do is to treat their lives with respect.
To achieve this, I aimed to breathe "life" into plants to foster a deeper sense of connection between plant owners and their plants. Similar to registering the birth of a newborn baby or pet, users can nickname their plants, set birthdays, and view their plant's profiles displayed as identity cards.
Singapore's first Plant Digital Twin
Pets have facial expressions that allow them to show emotions, but plants do not. I set out to build the bridge between plants and humans, to allow plants to better communicate their needs to their owners. This resulted in the creation of plant digital twins with facial expressions, so that users can understand their plants' pains more intuitively. These animated plant digital twins respond to users' clicks with jumps or shudders.
AI Plant Doctor
Empowered with insights into their plant's needs, many aspiring plant owners still struggle. A vast amount of conflicting information online makes it difficult to decipher the right care approach. Since different plant species have unique care requirements, my capstone team developed an AI plant doctor that provides personalised care tips for each of the user's individual plants.
Gardening can be difficult, but it doesn't have to be. It's easy with a NAMU Buddy.
Poster
This project was made possible by:
Software Development: Brandon Ong, Tan Lay Lin
Hardware Development: Joshua Lee, Irvine Novian
Business Operations: Emily Law, Glenda Ong
Design Lead: Lee Si Hao
Hardware Development: Joshua Lee, Irvine Novian
Business Operations: Emily Law, Glenda Ong
Design Lead: Lee Si Hao
