It is a free-hardware technological device based on an Arduino ESP-32 that allows us to amplify the electrical signals of living beings. By connecting its electrodes to plants or fungi we can receive the fluctuations in their electrical impulses and turn them into sounds, projections, changes in the lights, and so on.
Biodata is a free project created by Sam Cusumano, of Electricity for progress.
How does it work?
Small changes in electrical conductivity are measured between the electrodes and fed into a programmable microcontroller. The changes are detected through calculations of means and standard deviations that switch on the LEDs and produce MIDI notes and control changes. The circuit used to detect biological galvanic conductance is based on a 555 timer configured as an astable multivibrator, similar to a simple lie detector.
The exploration and practice of Biodata Sonification can allow a student, a musician, a scientist or a florist to listen to the secret life of plants — and to understand how their tools work!
What does all this mean?
Ask a botanist, a biologist, a philosopher or a florist, or try it yourself. Although there are always flourishes and strange or exciting events to be heard when interacting with a plant, we are interested in the longer sets of raw data. We want to understand better how plants change over many days, cycles and seasons, and how the use of this kind of recorded data can help to measure and follow plants in nature, in the office, on the farm and in the laboratory under study.
Would you like to have one?
With Sam’s permission, we have had the boards manufactured and have gathered all the components to make it easier for you. You have two options:
- If you are comfortable with a soldering iron and solder, we can send you a kit with all the components.
- If not so much, commission a complete biodata from us and we will send it to you assembled and ready to use.
In both cases you can fill in the contact form or write to us on social media.
Use cases
At MolinoLab we have used this technology in numerous projects; some of them are below.
More information:
