What your garden really needs are these robots that pretend to be lamps

Maybe it seems hard to believe if you’re surrounded by bitter-cold weather, but summer is approaching. So, what do you need in your garden this summer? Robots that moonlight as lamps, of course.

Toro-bots being tested. (Image via YouTube)

The lamps, coined “Toro-bots,” are a combination of Japanese garden lamps and PhantomX quadruped robots by Trossen Robotics.

Phantom X quadruped robots by Trossen Robotics.

Alvaro Casinelli, a researcher and media artist affiliated with The University of Tokyo and head of the Toro-bot project, created the robots to move via remote control signal. With the help of some integrated circuitry, they can also be programmed to display different behaviors. For example, a lamp can react to a passerby either by brightening its lights or even moving out of the way.

The Toro-bots are equipped with infrared rangefinders to sense the people walking by and come with infrared beacons so they can be tracked individually.

Why a Japanese garden?

Eventually, the creator would like to see them work autonomously since the idea is based on that of a Japanese garden.

According to IEEE Spectrum, “We propose here a garden that takes care of itself, that somehow understands and re-interprets the rules of harmony and equilibrium, and reconfigures itself depending on the season, the presence or absence of human observers — that develops structure in a generative way, creating a dynamic conversation between the elements in the garden.”

If you’re up for it, you can build your own Toro-bot by using a Japanese lamp and a PhantomX quadruped kit, which will run you about $1,000.