Ok to start things off, there is NOTHING WRONG with talking to your plants. They are technically alive and probably can hear you. The problem with plants is they just sit there and don’t really don’t talk back to you…..Until now.

BonsAI: The Talking Plant

Meet the BonsAI. Created by TDK Corporation, this bonsai plant can follow you around, hold a conversation, and even answer your questions about the meaning of life (It’s a bonsai tree after all). BonsAI follows you providing inner peace with its words of ancient wisdom. That’s right it will respond with wise Buddhist teachings depending on the questions you ask.

The best part about BonsAI is that you don’t have to do much. Sick of moving normal plants around all day into the sun?  This talking plant moves around all on its own to search for sunlight. As far as water goes BonsAI will need a bit of help, but it will move right next to the water source and ask to be watered thanks to its soil sensor.

Just like your favorite pet or human companion, this talking plant can even show emotion. It has an LED panel which will light up when it’s happy. Bonsai “smiles” after finding sunlight, getting watered or simply being talked to.

BonsAI gets power via a shapeshifting thin-film solar cell which also doubles as a light sensor. It recharges on its own via TDK’s wireless charging solution with a sensor at its base.

As far as movement goes it relies on a miniature 3d camera and TDK’s 9-Axis motion tracking sensor which detect’s BonsAI’s surroundings. The plant also includes a speaker for communication and a mini computer. With all of this onboard, BonsAI weighs a hefty 44 pounds.

TDK Attracting Tomorrow

The plant is not available for sale as its part of TDK’s Attracting Tomorrow campaign which is meant to show off some of the company’s new technologies. Attracting Tomorrow’s first project was the Silver Floats Art which featured small floating sculptures.

As of now, there are no plans to unleash Bonsai’s inner peace on the consumer market, but who wouldn’t want one of these? Jokes and ancient Buddhist sayings aside, plants are very important to our environment and introducing the element of artificial intelligence to them could provide a huge benefit. So the next time you talk to your plant, be careful as one day it might be able to talk back.

Is a plant too tame for you? You can get a robot that cleans your whole house or one that catches burglars.