Towards a Plant Bio-Machine

Stefano Nichele; Sebastian Risi; Gunnar  Tufte; Laura Beloff

doi:10.1109/SSCI.2017.8285288

Towards a Plant Bio-Machine

Stefano Nichele, Sebastian Risi, Gunnar Tufte, Laura Beloff

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Plants are very efficient computing machines. They are able to sense diverse environmental conditions and quickly react through chemical and electrical signaling. In this paper, we present an interface between plants and machines (a cybernetic plant), with the goal of augmenting the capabilities of plants towards the creation of plant biosensors. We implement a data acquisition system able to stimulate the plant through different electrical signals, as well as record the electrical activity of plants in response to changing electrical stimulations, light conditions, and chemicals. The results serve as a proof of concept that sensing capabilities of plants are a viable option for the development of plant bio-machines. Different future scenarios (some speculative) are discussed. The work herein is carried out as a collaboration between the EU project Flora Robotica and the EU project NASCENCE.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	IEEE Alife conference (SSCI) proceedings
Number of pages	8
Publisher	IEEE
Publication date	8 Feb 2018
Pages	1-8
Article number	17544442
ISBN (Print)	978-1-5386-2727-3
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-5386-2726-6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SSCI.2017.8285288
Publication status	Published - 8 Feb 2018

Keywords

Plant Biosensors
Cybernetic Plants
Environmental Sensing
Electrical Signaling in Plants
Human-Plant Interfaces

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10.1109/SSCI.2017.8285288

nichele_PlantBioMachineAccepted author manuscript, 13.4 MB

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AU - Nichele, Stefano

AU - Risi, Sebastian

AU - Tufte, Gunnar

AU - Beloff, Laura

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N2 - Plants are very efficient computing machines. They are able to sense diverse environmental conditions and quickly react through chemical and electrical signaling. In this paper, we present an interface between plants and machines (a cybernetic plant), with the goal of augmenting the capabilities of plants towards the creation of plant biosensors. We implement a data acquisition system able to stimulate the plant through different electrical signals, as well as record the electrical activity of plants in response to changing electrical stimulations, light conditions, and chemicals. The results serve as a proof of concept that sensing capabilities of plants are a viable option for the development of plant bio-machines. Different future scenarios (some speculative) are discussed. The work herein is carried out as a collaboration between the EU project Flora Robotica and the EU project NASCENCE.

AB - Plants are very efficient computing machines. They are able to sense diverse environmental conditions and quickly react through chemical and electrical signaling. In this paper, we present an interface between plants and machines (a cybernetic plant), with the goal of augmenting the capabilities of plants towards the creation of plant biosensors. We implement a data acquisition system able to stimulate the plant through different electrical signals, as well as record the electrical activity of plants in response to changing electrical stimulations, light conditions, and chemicals. The results serve as a proof of concept that sensing capabilities of plants are a viable option for the development of plant bio-machines. Different future scenarios (some speculative) are discussed. The work herein is carried out as a collaboration between the EU project Flora Robotica and the EU project NASCENCE.

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KW - Cybernetic Plants

KW - Environmental Sensing

KW - Electrical Signaling in Plants

KW - Human-Plant Interfaces

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BT - IEEE Alife conference (SSCI) proceedings

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Towards a Plant Bio-Machine

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Keywords

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