This AR app lets you 'try before you buy' plants for your home
Having more plants in your home can absorb airborne pollutants and improve your air quality, which can in turn affect your general wellbeing. NASA knows it, we all know it. But what'll work in your space, aesthetically?
New Australian app Plant Life Balance uses AR to help you "try before you buy," and create a tangible shopping list of plants to take to your local nursery.
You can assess your current "plant-life balance" (how many rooms you have, how many plants), then use AR to drop in over 90 plant recommendations, and get an analysis of their benefits.
The app uses data from collated plant studies from RMIT University and the University of Melbourne, so you can quantitatively estimate how "healthy" your space is. The research considered a plant's ability to absorb airborne pollutants, and also investigated direct mental health benefits of plants, such as improved mood and concentration.
But you can't just throw a tree into an apartment and expect it to both suit your design scheme and, you know, grow. Here's where the app comes in. First, you pick one of seven curated themes, say "Desert Dreams," "Sharehouse Heroes," or "Child's Play," — plants that will survive footballs.
You'll get a little glimpse at the plants picked to suit your chosen theme, and whether they're best for indoor or outdoor spaces:
Use the grid system to align your phone's camera, then drag and drop your chosen plant:
Happy? You'll get a space rating (estimating air quality and subsequent wellbeing) once you've confirmed your design, and you can email the list to yourself to take along to the nursery in person. Pretty neat, huh?
Using AR to trial future purchases in your space is a strategy we've seen with companies like Ikea. But Plant Life Balance, with no e-commerce element or affiliated nursery to speak of, seems to be more concerned with the health and environmental contribution of its users.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.
