Botanicus Interacticus from Disney Research turns plants into multi-touch surfaces, simply by placing an electrode in the soil.
Botanicus Interacticus has a number of unique properties. This instrumentation of living plants is simple, non-invasive, and does not damage the plants: it requires only a single wire placed anywhere in the plant soil. Botanicus Interacticus allows for rich and expressive interaction with plants. It allows to use such gestures as sliding fingers on the stem of the orchid, detecting touch and grasp location, tracking proximity between human and a plant, and estimating the amount of touch contact, among others.
And then botany education changed forever.
[via Boing Boing]
wow that is groovy! almost seemed like a spoof, but even if it was, the technology can definitely do that. machine learning bit was the most interesting part I think.