Designed to take the absolute hassle out of watering and taking care of your plants, WALTY gives them the water they need by simply pulling it out of the atmosphere. Because a singular plant can’t generate and capture enough atmospheric humidity as an entire forest, WALTY basically does that part for your plant. Now it might sound borderline magical, but the way WALTY works is similar to a dehumidifier.

A dehumidifier pulls moisture from the air using cold plates that force water droplets to condense on them. The droplets then drip down into a reservoir tank, and when it fills up, you simply empty it out. WALTY’s approach is similar, except it uses that very water to keep your plant hydrated… sort of like a win-win.

The WALTY’s origin has an aspect of environmental and social design to it too. Almost four years ago, Puerto Rico was struck by the devastating hurricanes Irma and Maria. While a collapsed power grid forced some people to rely on power plants or solar panels for energy, access to clean water was extremely limited and required waiting in line at the supermarket for hours. In fact, during the aftermath, it was estimated that more than 95% of Puerto Ricans lacked drinking water. This prompted the team at WATRIC Energy Resources to immediately search for new off-grid alternative water sources that could address this problem.

After months of research, the team developed their first proof of concept using a condensation system that could magically pull small amounts of water from the air. However, creating a larger-scale solution for humans required extra funding and further R&D, so the team decided to take their condensation system and build a self-watering smart-planter. The WALTY campaign, a result of this research, will help the fine folks at WATRIC Energy Resources secure funding to scale up their idea, so that humans can get access to pure drinking water from the air too.

According to Yanko Design