During the early 2010s, the emergence of Zoobotics and robots inspired by animals coincided with the introduction of another type of robotics. This concept was initially proposed by Barbara Mazzolai, a former biologist from Italy who envisioned merging the growth processes of plants with robotics to create roboplants.
Mazzolai proposed looking beyond animals and came up with roboplants, which may appear uninteresting due to their limited mobility, but they present various possibilities, especially in establishing a human colony on new planets such as Mars where infrastructure is crucial and roboplants can contribute significantly.
Using Roboplants on Mars
Astronauts rely on basic necessities like shelter, food, and water when exploring other planets. Due to the distance between Mars and Earth, astronauts must have a self-sustaining system that can support their needs without relying on supplies from Earth. To achieve this, BGR reported that some scientists are looking into using roboplants to help find essential components like water and nutrients.
Plants may not be fast movers, but they are skilled at searching for water and nutrients in the soil. By combining plant abilities with a robot designed to search for similar components necessary for human survival, the process of finding water on Mars can be made more efficient.
Besides that, the use of these plant-inspired robots could also lay the foundation for NASA's upcoming missions to Mars, as well as Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars eventually.
The concept of using roboplants on Mars is illustrated well in parts of Dario Floreano and Nicola Nosengo's book, Tales From a Robotic World. According to the authors, roboplants such as those created by Barbara Mazzolai could serve as an anchor and simultaneously look for water/nutrients on planets with lower gravity.
This idea is intriguing and worthy of further exploration. NASA has been conducting simulations to observe how living on Mars would function, and plant-inspired robots like the roboplants might find techniques to adjust Mars soil, allowing for colonies to grow sustainable crops in greenhouses.
How Roboplants Would Work on Mars
The European Space Agency (ESA) has explored the idea of a plant-like planetary explorer, which would be capable of growing robotic roots to explore the surface of other planets, according to The MIT Press Reader.
The roots would be designed to sense their underground environment and turn away from hard bedrock, while pumping water into small chambers that would apply pressure on the soil, creating a tunnel-like structure. Mars was considered the most suitable location for such a system, due to its low gravity and atmospheric pressure.
Following her work with ESA, Barbara Mazzolai convinced the European Commission to fund a three-year study, which resulted in the creation of a plant-inspired robot, called Plantoid.
The robot is made up of independent units that can self-organize and make decisions collectively. One of the main challenges was creating the robot's roots, which were designed to be flexible, articulated, cylindrical structures with an actuation mechanism that can move their tip in different directions.
The robot's roots were designed to grow using a miniature 3D printer that continuously adds material behind the root's tip, pushing it into the soil. The upper trunk and branches of the Plantoid robot are populated by soft, folding leaves that gently move toward light and humidity.
Although the leaves cannot yet transform light into energy, transparent and foldable films filled with synthetic chlorophyll capable of converting and storing electricity from light have been developed, which one day could be formed into artificial leaves powering Plantoid robots. The root of the Plantoid only applies pressure to the soil from the tip, making it different from traditional drills, which can be destructive.
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