The startup Mu Design, creator of ULO, a surveillance camera designed as a pet owl interacting with you through eye expressions, has just launched a new crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to make a new IoT project real: meet LUA!
If you are a plant lover but simply cannot keep one plant alive in your home, LUA is tailored-made for you. LUA is a smart planter reacting as a pet thanks to Mu Design’s technology.
“Our aim is to build the emotive branch of IoT by adding a layer of emotion to technology. ULO was the first stepping stone toward it. And, for that good purpose, expanding our family of products is vital: Lua is the new sibling” told us the CEO of Mu Design, Vivien Muller.
After 13 months of development, the prototype of LUA is in full working mode in a very easy way.
Use LUA to communicate with your plant
The startup developed LUA with one purpose in mind. “How can you use emotions to deliver a message? A flower pot was the perfect fit because plants have emotions but cannot communicate them to us” said the CEO.
How does LUA work? First step, you need to buy a plant: with a database of over 4,000 specimens, any plant will do! Once your choice is made, you need to download LUA’s app, select the type of plant you own, then a QR Code is processed. Scan this QR Code in front of LUA, which, as smart as it is, will automatically set the parameters!
No notifications are sent to the user, but instead emoji appears automatically on the flower pot, giving real time information on the plant emotions. “Just like a Tamagotchi, you are really taking care of your plant which becomes like your pet!” declared Vivien.
Using sensors, the smart planter triggers 15 different universal animated emotions. “6 animations are directly related to your plant’s health and overall well-being, such as informing when thirsty, sick, without enough light, squint, cold, hot, while the 9 others give Lua and your plant, a spark of life” said Vivien.
The crowdfunding campaign’s objectives
The startup contemplates funding 30,000 euros through its campaign during the next 45 days.
“Funds will mainly be used to initiate the tooling, the components procurement and the manufacturing of the device” said the CEO. “We want Lua to be delivered to the public by December 2019” emphasized Vivien.
