Cyborg Plant will Follow the Sun

Dec-07-18 A cyborg plant able to move to a sunnier location could have wide-ranging applications.

Though there have already been a few plant containers able to autonomously move into sunny spots, these rely on external sensors rather than triggers from the plant itself. To give the plant the power, the team from MIT created their ‘cyborg’ plant, called Elowan, by equipping the plant with electrodes able to detect bioelectrochemical signals sent by the plant when it detects light. That signal then triggers the plant’s wheeled, robotic planter to move in the direction of the light source.

Besides simply giving plants a ‘say,’ the MIT team believes the technology could be used to control solar panels or track environmental parameters such as temperature and humidity.

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[VICE.COM]
[MEDIA.MIT.EDU]

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