Chauncey is a Wrylon Robotical Flower Care Robot designed by Barry McWilliams and built by John Park. Due to certain regrettable events, full-scale production of the FLORABOT 3L-1G model, a.k.a. Chauncey, ceased in 1913. However, do not despair -- you can build your own fully functional, 3D-printed Chauncey.

Mk. I plans for building Chauncey were published in the excellent 3D Printing Projects book from Maker Media.

Now, this updated Mk. II Chauncey can be created using a CLUE microcontroller board running CircuitPython and the Bonsai Buckaroo add-on board to sense soil moisture levels and water your flower or plant using a small, submersible pump.

Parts

Animated GIF showing CLUE board  displaying data from the many on-board sensors.
Do you feel like you just don't have a CLUE? Well, we can help with that - get a CLUE here at Adafruit by picking up this sensor-packed development board. We wanted to build some...
Out of Stock
Adafruit Bonsai Buckaroo - micro:bit & CLUE Plant Care Helper connected to a plant and a cup of water with alligator clips. Display reads "CLUE Buckaroo, Soil: 3.1K, Motor Off"
We can’t wait for spring to arrive, and we’re looking forward to caring for some plants! We designed this little add-on for
$4.95
In Stock
Submersible 3V DC Water Pump with 1 Meter Wire
Make fountains or plant-watering projects with this submersible water pump. It's great for beginner projects and super easy to use! The pump is basically a DC motor that is powered...
$2.95
In Stock
Tubing for Submersible Pumps - PVC 6mm Inner diameter
This tubing is designed to go with our simple submersible pumps. Great for making water-powered projects. This tubing seems to be made of PVC, it's definitely not food safe, we...
$1.50
In Stock
Bundle of Small Alligator Clip Test Lead - set of 6
Connect this to that without soldering using these small alligator clip test leads. 18" long cables with color-coded alligator clips on both ends. You get 6 pieces in 6...
$2.95
In Stock
USB Cable with Type A and Micro B ends
This is your standard USB A-Plug to Micro-USB cable. It's 2 meters long so you'll have plenty of cord to work with for those longer extensions.
$4.95
In Stock

Materials & Tools

In addition to the parts above, you'll also need:

  • A 3D printer or have it printed by a 3D printing service
  • 2 ea. galvanized nails
  • A small glass jar
  • CA glue (a.k.a. "super glue")
  • A handheld rotary tool

Optional:

  • Acrylic craft paint & brushes
  • Acrylic paint spray sealer

This guide was first published on Mar 25, 2020. It was last updated on Mar 25, 2020.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 12, 2020.

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