Smart ecosystems may soon occupy our homes

Ever thought of a garden that would need little care and provide all the benefits of a regular one? Well, the new EcoGardnen might just get you covered on that.

The project is run by Ecobloom, a startup from Stockholm, and its makers call it the “world’s smartest interactive ecosystem.”

The small, rounded, mostly transparent rectangle from glass and metal combines two basic environments: land and water. These are a greenhouse and an aquarium merged into a little ecosystem: “the fish feed the plants and the plants take care of the fish”.

Aquaponics, the technology behind a combination of agriculture and hydroponics, is an ancient practice employed by humans for hundreds of years. Still, it is the first time it comes in such a compact and smart form.

“You feed the fish, the fish feed the plants, and the plants feed you!” says the moto on the product’s the Kickstarter profile. And even the fish can be feed automatically if the system is set so and you just want to watch it all happen.

Meanwhile, the greenhouse can grow your favorite herbs all year round, while the self-cleaning aquarium is there to gladden your eye. And if anything goes wrong your phone will always tell you how to save your domesticated ecosystem, while also helping to monitor and control it remotely.

As tech innovations spread out into more and more sustainability realms, such as environmental monitoring, agriculture projects like Farmbot or innovative applications within AI for Earth initiative, a new industrial revolution may be happening in front of our eyes. Hopefully, this will be a revolution that changes our relationship with nature for the better.