If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, cooler weather is here. In some locations seeing outdoor flowers is largely something that has left and will return in a few months. Whether you need something to brighten up your day, or if you live in a continuously green and colorful outdoor environment, the Flower everblooming flower from Jiří Praus looks like a wonderful addition to your living space.
The Flower is triggered via a circuit sculpture leaf that acts as a capacitive touch sensor. When brushed, the flower’s six petals open via a stepper motor and linkage system, revealing it’s luminescent inner section, powered by seven individually-addressable LEDs.
The device is handmade in the Czech Republic, and features an app for control and parameter modification, as well as a USB-C interface for programming tasks. Inside, an ESP32 is used to control the leaf’s touch functionality, and provides WiFi and Bluetooth connection options. The Flower is open source, and extendable via I2C sensors, so a wide range of enhancements and modifications should be possible.
If this flower looks familiar, we featured an early version of it in 2019 that used a bent metallic frame for the petals instead of the more diffuse design seen today. As reported there, Praus wasn’t sure if he’d be making these mechanical flowers available for purchase, but you never know how a project will develop!
