Emerging Technologies Inspired by Plants - Bioinspired Approaches for Human-Centric Technologies - page 110

Chapter 4
Emerging Technologies Inspired by Plants

Barbara Mazzolai, Virgilio Mattoli, Lucia Beccai, and Edoardo Sinibaldi

4.1 Introduction

Soil is a vital resource for living organisms and provides energy and precious
elements for mankind. How do plants address and manage a large amount of
information (which is primarily obtained from the soil) to survive extreme condi-
tions? How can roots avoid danger if they cannot move quickly within the soil?
Additionally, can science and technology take advantage of strategies to penetrate
and explore soil as well as to maintain good performance in terms of energy
efficiency? Biomimetics is considered as an approach to study plants and to
demonstrate the improvements in technological development that can result from
imitating the natural characteristics of plants. After describing some of the main
characteristics of plants, specifically their roots, we focus on natural strategies that
plant roots use to penetrate soil. Additionally, we describe how the elongation of the
root tip apex can be studied from an engineering perspective and provide insight
into the pressure required for the root to move forward. In the second part of this
study, we propose robotic plant root-like systems called Plantoids that mimic root
behavior and include distributed sensing, actuation, and intelligence for tasks such
as environmental exploration and monitoring. In the final part of this study, we
address bioinspiration from the motion of a plant and its materials. The active
mechanism in plant movements is reviewed, and, specifically, an analytical
approach to a bioinspired osmotic system is described. Finally, passive natural
mechanisms and available technological actuation mechanisms are reviewed.