Robots in the Garden: Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Landscapes
Zihao Zhang Susan L. Epstein Casey Breen Sophia Xia Zhigang Zhu Christian Volkmann
This paper introduces ELUA, the Ecological Laboratory for Urban Agriculture,
a collaboration among landscape architects, architects and computer scientists
who specialize in artificial intelligence, robotics and computer vision. ELUA
has two gantry robots, one indoors and the other outside on the rooftop of a
6-story campus building. Each robot can seed, water, weed, and prune in its
garden. To support responsive landscape research, ELUA also includes sensor
arrays, an AI-powered camera, and an extensive network infrastructure. This
project demonstrates a way to integrate artificial intelligence into an
evolving urban ecosystem, and encourages landscape architects to develop an
adaptive design framework where design becomes a long-term engagement with the
environment.