European scienTIsts developing a roboTIc tree

The PLANTOID robot, with its "trunk" and sensor/leaf-bearing branches

Image Gallery (4 images)

The animal kingdom contains many examples of efficient forms of locomoTIon, so it's no wonder that we've been seeing a lot of animal-inspired robots – recent examples have included a roboTIc cheetah, fish and snake. Plants, however, just sit there ... don't they? Actually, they do move, just not necessarily in a Point A to Point B manner. With that in mind, Europe's PLANTOID project consortium is now in the process of developing a tree-like robot. Its descendants might ultimately find use in the exploration of other planets.

The base of the PLANTOID robot is a 3D-printed plastic "trunk," which houses a microprocessor. Extending out from the sides of that trunk are four plastic branches, the leaves of which are actually sensors capable of detecting and measuring factors such as temperature, humidity, gravity, touch, and chemical elements.

The robot's two roots, however, are where the real action is.

The robot on display, showing its tentacle-like and "growing" roots (bottom left and right, respectively)

One of those roots, which bends like a tentacle, has a tactile-sensor-equipped tip. Using that sensor, as it squirms its way through the dirt, the root can change direction when it encounters solid obstacles ... much like a natural root does. It could also be equipped to sense and avoid toxic substances in the ground.

The other root (seen below) is actually able to grow down into the substrate. It has a rotating tip, which extrudes a coiled cord behind it as it turns. The coils join together to form a tube-like root, which continues to grow as long as the tip keeps turning.

In its present form, the PLANTOID robot serves mainly as a proof-of-concept model. Down the road, however, the technology developed for its roots could lead to better endoscopic surgical tools, or for tools used in locating victims buried in debris at disaster sites.

Complete PLANTOID-type robots could be also used to monitor things like soil conditions and pollutant levels here on Earth, or they could even find use gathering environmental data on other planets. Once deposited by an unmanned rover, a PLANTOID could secure itself in place via its roots, then set about sensing the air and soil.

The project is being led by the Istituto Italia di Tecnologia, with the other members consisting of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain), the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy) and EPFL (Switzerland). It began in 2012, and is due to wrap up next April. In the meantime, the researchers are looking into adding other functions to the roots, and devising ways in which the robots could draw power from their environment.

Sources: CORDIS, PLANTOID

自動翻譯僅供參考

歐洲科學(xué)家開發(fā)仿生樹木機器人

European科學(xué)家開發(fā)一種機器人tree

的PLANTOID機器人，它的“樹干”和傳感器

葉軸承分公司

圖片廊（4圖像）

動物王國中含有的有效形式很多例子運動的，所以這也難怪，我們已經(jīng)看到了大量的動物為靈感的機器人 - 最近的例子已經(jīng)包括了機器人獵豹，魚和蛇。植物，然而，只是坐在那里......不是嗎？其實，他們根本動，只是不一定在A點到B點的方式?？紤]到這一點，歐洲的PLANTOID項目財團正處于開發(fā)樹狀機器人的過程。它的后代最終可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)其他行星的探測使用。

平面機器人的基礎(chǔ)是一個3D打印的塑料“軀干”，里面裝有微處理器。從樹干的側(cè)面伸出的是四個塑料枝條，它們的葉子實際上是能夠檢測和測量諸如溫度、濕度、重力、觸覺和化學(xué)元素等因素的傳感器。

機器人的兩個根，但是，是其中實際行動。

上顯示的機械手，顯示出其觸手狀和“生長”根（底部左側(cè)和右側(cè)，分別）

其中的一個根，其中彎曲像觸須，具有一個觸摸-sensor配備尖端。使用該傳感器，它通過扭動污垢的方式，根可以改變方向，遇到堅實的障礙物時......就像一個天然的根一樣。它也可以被配備成感測和避免在地有毒物質(zhì)。

另一根（下面所示）實際上是能夠成長向下到襯底。它有一個旋轉(zhuǎn)的尖端，其擠壓螺旋線背后的事實。線圈連接在一起，形成一個筒狀根，繼續(xù)只要成長為尖端不停轉(zhuǎn)動。

在目前的形式下，PLANTOID機器人主要是作為概念驗證的模型。下山的路，但是，對于其根源開發(fā)的技術(shù)能夠帶來更好的內(nèi)窺鏡手術(shù)工具，或用于定位受害者在災(zāi)難現(xiàn)場被埋在廢墟中使用的工具。

完備PLANTOID型機器人也可以用于監(jiān)視像土在地球上的條件和污染水平，或者他們甚至可以找到使用在其他行星上收集環(huán)境數(shù)據(jù)。一旦通過一個無人月球車存放，一個PLANTOID可以通過它的根保護自己的地方，再設(shè)置一下檢測空氣和土壤中。

該項目正率領(lǐng)因諾琴蒂基金會意大利迪TECNOLOGIA，與其他成員組成的研究所的加泰羅尼亞生物工程（西班牙）UNIVERSITA德利阿布魯Studi住宅迪佛羅倫薩（意大利）和洛桑聯(lián)邦理工學(xué)院（瑞士）。它始于2012年，并于明年四月收官。在此期間，研究人員正在研究加入其他功能的根源，并制定方法，使機器人能夠從環(huán)境中吸取功率