Automatic Plant Waterer

The Groasis Waterboxx was the grand award winner in Popular Science’s 2010 top 100 innovations list. The base has a water reservoir which you fill once or very rarely. Any rainfall or morning dew runs down the top of the lid to water the plant, and the condensation from the reservoir collects on the underside of the lid and serves to water the plant in dry times.

At $275 for 10, it seems a bit pricey for it’s intended use in poor, arid nations, especially considering you could likely make a passable version of these out of old tires and trash can lids, but I see no reason it has to be an eyesore.  I can see a nicer version of this having use in parking lot plantings in semi-arid cities like Los Angeles, or for newly planted trees along highways.

Spoof Art | M. C. Escher Hands

CrunchGear had an unusually short and sweet caption on this photo, and I must admit, I don’t think I can improve upon it:

“Give a robot repairs, and it will operate for a day. Teach it to repair itself, and it will touch off a Robocalypse.”

The combination in machines of the dexterity for self assembly and the intelligence for self improvement will undoubtedly herald some very interesting and fast paced times. As apocalypses go, I can think of worse.