A perspective on plant robotics: from bioinspiration to hybrid systems

Abstract

As miscellaneous as the Plant Kingdom is, correspondingly diverse are the opportunities for taking inspiration from plants for innovations in science and engineering. Especially in robotics, properties like growth, adaptation to environments, ingenious materials, sustainability, and energy-effectiveness of plants provide an extremely rich source of inspiration to develop new technologies - and many of them are still in the beginning of being discovered. In the last decade, researchers have begun to reproduce complex plant functions leading to functionality that goes far beyond conventional robotics and this includes sustainability, resource saving, and eco-friendliness. This perspective drawn by specialists in different related disciplines provides a snapshot from the last decade of research in the field and draws conclusions on the current challenges, unanswered questions on plant functions, plant-inspired robots, bioinspired materials, and plant-hybrid systems looking ahead to the future of these research fields.

Nature-Inspired Designs in Wind Energy: A Review

“…Flowers also influence biomimetic designs in robotics and medical devices. The study of flower-like structures has informed the development of soft robots and medical implants that mimic the flexibility and adaptability of petals, offering solutions for minimally invasive procedures and patient comfort [61,62]. Furthermore, the self-cleaning properties of some flower surfaces, like the lotus leaf, have inspired the creation of superhydrophobic materials.…”

Advancing Innovation through Biomimicry and AI: Inspiration to Implementation

“…Similar to how the brain uses synaptic plasticity to adapt and learn from experience, artificial neural networks (ANNs) may learn from data by training and modifying the weights of their connections. All things considered, ANNs' functionality and design are directly influenced by the biological makeup and physiology of neurons, which enables them to efficiently simulate and resolve a variety of challenging problems in artificial intelligence and machine learning [19,20].…”

Flutter instability in solids and structures, with a view on biomechanics and metamaterials

“…The active reconfigurations and movements of elongating plant organs have recently received renewed attention for the design and optimal actuation of bioinspired soft robotics actuators [202][203][204]. In particular, as shown in figure 9, it was demonstrated that active filaments of polyelectrolyte gels operating in a viscous environment can exhibit periodic oscillations arising from flutter or divergence instability, when subject to a steady and uniform electric field, with application to smart actuator design for micro-fluidics or soft robotics [205].…”