When most people think of French company Parrot SA, they immediately think of drones, and rightfully so given it’s one of the largest UAV manufacturers on the globe, but would you relate Parrot to potted plants?

In a surprising turn of events, Parrot has grown a green thumb and has launched a smart plant pot at this year’s Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas.

The Parrot POT (that’s its actual name) holds 2.2 liters of water and will automatically water any plant you decide to include in the pot when it detects that the soil is too dry.

Watering potted plants may not seem all that exciting up front, but the POT is far more clever than that, with a connected app that allows users to choose between 8,000 different types of plants, so the POT knows exactly how much water the plant needs, an important inclusion given that a succulent would need far less water than say a Hydrangea.

In what could be described as a fitness tracking equivalent for plants, the POT also includes an acidity sensor, a temperature sensor, and a light sensor so it can tell you whether your now-seriously overpampered plant requires fertilizer, additional or less sunlight, or needs to be moved to a different spot due to being too warm or cold.

Updates are pushed every 15 minutes to the app in your phone (yes, the POT connects to your home network by Wi-Fi), and if you’re going on a holiday, you can switch the POT to water in the conserving mode to make sure those 2.2 liters last until you get back.

Idiot-proof gardening

While many enjoy maintaining and keeping potted plants, not everyone is naturally born with a green thumb, and what the Parrot POT delivers is idiot-proof gardening.

It does seem to be an out-of-left-field offering for a drone maker, but this isn’t the first time Parrot has dabbled in horticulture, having debuted the Flower Power (not to be confused with hippies) smart sensor for plants back in 2014.

How much for this marvel of modern technology you ask?

$99.

For a pot.

To put a plant in.

OK, so while it is a lot of money for one single pot (remembering you can buy pots for $1 in most places), and if you have many potted plants, you’ll end up spending thousands on just having them connected to the Internet, it is a rather cute concept and certainly is one of those things you could buy for someone who already owns everything else. Although we’d recommend the addition of a plant inside the POT if you’re thinking about giving one as gift.

Image credit: Parrot