Plants as Model in Biomimetics and Biorobotics: New Perspectives

Especially in robotics, rarely plants have been considered as a model of inspiration for designing and developing new technology. This is probably due to their radically different operational principles compared to animals and the difficulty to study their movements and features. Owing to the sessile nature of their lifestyle, plants have evolved the capability to respond to a wide range of signals and efficiently adapt to changing environmental conditions. Plants in fact are able to show considerable plasticity in their morphology and physiology in response to variability within their environment. This results in movements that are characterized by energy efficiency and high density. Plant materials are optimized to reduce energy consumption during motion and these capabilities offer a plethora of solutions in the artificial world, exploiting approaches that are muscle-free and thus not necessarily animal-like. Plant roots then are excellent natural diggers, and their characteristics such as adaptive growth, low energy consumption movements, and the capability of penetrating soil at any angle are interesting from an engineering perspective. A few examples are described to lay the perspectives of plants in the artificial world.

[1]  T. Speck,et al.  Mechanics without muscle: biomechanical inspiration from the plant world. , 2010, Integrative and comparative biology.

[2]  Wilhelm Barthlott,et al.  Wettability and Contaminability of Insect Wings as a Function of Their Surface Sculptures , 1996 .

[3]  Ali Sadeghi,et al.  Robotic mechanism for soil penetration inspired by plant root , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[4]  Paolo Dario,et al.  A Miniaturized Mechatronic System Inspired by Plant Roots for Soil Exploration , 2011, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[5]  F. Barth,et al.  Biomaterial systems for mechanosensing and actuation , 2009, Nature.

[6]  Thomas Speck,et al.  Pummelos as Concept Generators for Biomimetically Inspired Low Weight Structures with Excellent Damping Properties , 2010 .

[7]  Yasuaki Seki,et al.  Biological materials: Structure and mechanical properties , 2008 .

[8]  A. Ijspeert,et al.  From Swimming to Walking with a Salamander Robot Driven by a Spinal Cord Model , 2007, Science.

[9]  Rolf Pfeifer,et al.  How the body shapes the way we think - a new view on intelligence , 2006 .

[10]  Fumiya Iida,et al.  The challenges ahead for bio-inspired 'soft' robotics , 2012, CACM.

[11]  S. Fu,et al.  Biomimicry of bamboo bast fiber with engineering composite materials , 1995 .

[12]  I. Burgert,et al.  Actuation systems in plants as prototypes for bioinspired devices , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[13]  Nicola Pugno,et al.  Multifunctionality and Control of the Crumpling and Unfolding of Large-Area Graphene , 2012, Nature materials.

[14]  Yoël Forterre,et al.  Slow, fast and furious: understanding the physics of plant movements. , 2013, Journal of experimental botany.

[15]  T Speck,et al.  Structure–function relationship of the foam-like pomelo peel (Citrus maxima)—an inspiration for the development of biomimetic damping materials with high energy dissipation , 2013, Bioinspiration & biomimetics.

[16]  A. R. Dexter,et al.  Mechanics of root growth , 1987, Plant and Soil.

[17]  B Mazzolai,et al.  Soft-robotic arm inspired by the octopus: II. From artificial requirements to innovative technological solutions , 2012, Bioinspiration & biomimetics.

[18]  Ali Sadeghi,et al.  Plant Root Strategies for Robotic Soil Penetration , 2013, Living Machines.

[19]  Elisabeth Smela,et al.  Electroosmotically driven microfluidic actuators , 2009 .

[20]  W. Barthlott,et al.  Purity of the sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological surfaces , 1997, Planta.

[21]  Huajian Gao,et al.  Mechanics of hierarchical adhesion structures of geckos , 2005 .

[22]  Lucia Beccai,et al.  Artificial adhesion mechanisms inspired by octopus suckers , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[23]  F Tramacere,et al.  Osmotic actuation modelling for innovative biorobotic solutions inspired by the plant kingdom , 2013, Bioinspiration & biomimetics.

[24]  Kevin Y. Ma,et al.  Controlled Flight of a Biologically Inspired, Insect-Scale Robot , 2013, Science.

[25]  Bharat Bhushan,et al.  Biomimetics: lessons from nature–an overview , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[26]  J. Dumais,et al.  “Vegetable Dynamicks”: The Role of Water in Plant Movements , 2012 .

[27]  M. Cutkosky,et al.  The Gecko’s Toe: Scaling Directional Adhesives for Climbing Applications , 2013, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[28]  P. Dario,et al.  Design concept and validation of a robotic arm inspired by the octopus , 2011 .

[29]  Sangbae Kim,et al.  Design and fabrication of multi-material structures for bioinspired robots , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[30]  Donald J. Leo,et al.  Modeling and characterization of a chemomechanical actuator using protein transporter , 2008 .

[31]  Joseph Ayers,et al.  Biomimetic approaches to the control of underwater walking machines , 2007, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[32]  Stefano Ferraris,et al.  A gradual rather than abrupt increase in soil strength gives better root penetration of strong layers , 2008, Plant and Soil.

[33]  J. Hart.  Plant tropisms and other growth movements , 1990 .

[34]  Cecilia Laschi,et al.  Soft robotics: a bioinspired evolution in robotics. , 2013, Trends in biotechnology.

[35]  P. Hallett,et al.  Root elongation, water stress, and mechanical impedance: a review of limiting stresses and beneficial root tip traits. , 2011, Journal of experimental botany.