PhytoBits: A Frugal Bio-Integrated Sensing Toolkit for Computational Plant Science Education
Published in ACM IMWUT (Under Review), 2026
Rapid environmental change and advances in data-driven analysis highlight the need not only to use computational tools, but also to foster understanding of the natural world and inspire creativity. Photosynthesis, the process that fuels nearly all life on Earth, provides a compelling context for such learning, particularly in understanding how plants alter their photosynthetic strategies in response to environmental changes. However, existing tools for studying photosynthesis are often inaccessible or limited to demonstrating its presence, rather than capturing its temporal dynamics. We present PhytoBits, a frugal in vivo gas-exchange sensing toolkit for distinguishing and teaching photosynthetic strategies. PhytoBits combines leaf enclosure with accessible materials, an off-the-shelf CO2 sensor, and a low-cost micro-controller, to support multi-day monitoring of plant gas-exchange in authentic learning and research settings. We validated PhytoBits against research-grade gas-exchange systems, confirming that it identifies C3 and CAM (Crassulacean Acid Metabolism) photosynthetic pathways. Using selected plants, students collected and analyzed their own data, increasing their understanding of photosynthesis strategies and confidence in physical computing (system usability scale score: 80.7). In addition to obligate CAM, PhytoBits also resolves facultative CAM and developmental CAM dynamics in plants.