Botanical interface design -creative kits, tools, and methods-

In this paper, we introduce our framework called "botanical computing", which is one of the hybridizations between natural plants and electronic computing system. It can open a door to invent new types of bio-interactive arts/designs and explore potentials for stimulating our sensibility and cultivating our creativity. Both local and remote communications can be considered for the world-wide botanical computing. Hybrid gardening, hybrid cultivating, hybrid agriculture, interactive flower arrangement/bonsai, remote floral arts are also in our scope. We have developed the versatile creative environment for botanical computing, which is composed of plant database, monitoring software and I/O device kits. They have been designed for ordinary people to "create" original hybrid circuits in the DIY (do it yourself) style. Furthermore, our environment is also available for educational use. People can learn more about both plants' mechanisms and computational logic concurrently.