The Power Garden
An interactive experiment in urban agriculture that aimed to reconnect commuters with the natural origins of Naked Juice beverages.
Hardware and Software, Production, Project Management
ROLE
Android Tablet Native App Dev, Capacitive Sensor Integration, Arduino, Javascript
TECH
Incredible Machines, OMD, Naked Juice
TEAM
PRESS
Naked Juice wanted to promote their latest vegetable-based juices in an innovative urban experience that engaged local community.
We (Incredible Machines) installed a literal garden in the middle of Riverside Plaza, a bustling commuter route in downtown Chicago. We grew 6 varieties of vegetables featured in the juice line, and used a combination of environmental, motion, and touch sensors along with Twitter data to shape its dynamic, living personality. The Power Garden sensed when people passed by and literally called out to them for on-site engagement, while also updating digital signage (Android tablets housed in custom enclosures) dynamically with fun facts about each veggie plot. Spectators had the most fun when they interacted with the vegetables – each veggie had a unique voice that responded to touch.
A native Android application running on several tablets installed around the garden which would play audio cues when capacitive touch sensors would trigger with audience interaction of the plants.
Visitors helped keep the garden hydrated by Tweeting water-related messages to @ThePowerGarden, which turned the garden’s sprinklers on. Over the course of the two month installation, fans from around the world helped care for the garden and checked its progress on the live webcam.
Over the three months, we engaged the community by hosting weekly events, and in support of Naked Juice’s charity partnership with Wholesome Wave, which provides fresh produce to underserved communities, all the vegetables grown in the Power Garden were donated to the Washburn Culinary Institute, a Wholesome Wave affiliate in Chicago, to close the campaign.
As part of the community events, we also created some unique activities, one of which was a capacitive touch-driven vegetable synthesizer.