AssetID: 53229367
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Fluorescent Robotic Seeds That Test The Soil Are The Future Of Agriculture
Caption: These fluorescent robotic seeds - sown by drones - could represent the future of 21st-century agriculture. Invented by researchers at the IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) in Genova, Italy, the Acer i-Seed is designed to sense environmental parameters without harming the ecosystem. This soft robot, inspired by natural Acer seeds, uses luminescence to monitor soil temperature. Crafted from a biocompatible and compostable material, the Acer i-Seed is created using 3D printing technologies. To deploy the seeds over vast areas and conduct remote terrain studies, a drone is utilised. Published in the prestigious scientific journal Science Advances, the research group at IIT, led by Barbara Mazzolai, collaborated with the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM), Saarbrücken, Germany. Supported by European Union funds through the I-Seed project coordinated by IIT, the artificial seed mimics the aerodynamic behaviour of Acer campestre (field maple) seeds. These seeds, native to Europe, detach from the plant when mature, relying on their unique mono-winged aerodynamic design, allowing them to autorotate like a helicopter blade, increasing the chances of wind dispersion over large distances. The IIT researchers, renowned for their work in bio-inspired soft robotics, have previously focused on imitating the growth and movement strategies of roots, climbing plants, and Geraniaceae seeds. In this project, they studied the flying and dispersal features of Acer seeds. Barbara Mazzolai, Associate Director for Robotics at IIT and Director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics (BSR) Lab, says: "This study demonstrates that imitating the strategies or structures of living beings and replicating them in robotic technologies are key elements to obtain innovation with low environmental impact in terms of energy and pollution." After analysing the natural seeds' morphology, histology, and aerodynamics, the research group designed and realised the artificial biomimetic seed. They developed a biocompatible and compostable material based on polylactic acid (PLA) with embedded non-toxic fluorescent lanthanide particles sensitive to temperature. Employing 3D printing technologies, they fabricated the artificial luminescent seeds. The fluorescent artificial seed-like fliers can be deployed by drones equipped with fLiDAR (fluorescence Light Detection and Ranging), enabling remote and distributed monitoring of soil temperature and other parameters. On-field tests of the I-Seed Acer released by a drone demonstrated its feasibility. Tobias Kraus, leading the development of the flyer’s sensor materials at INM, mentioned that moving sensing into the material obviates power sources and electronics, making the flier eco-friendly and robust. While the current focus is on thermal sensing, future considerations include incorporating fluorescent particles sensitive to other environmental parameters such as humidity, CO2 levels, or pollutants. The researchers aim to collaborate with companies to deploy the Acer i-Seeds in larger areas like agricultural terrains for a distributed, simultaneous, wireless, and eco-friendly environmental analysis.
Keywords: fluorescent seeds,robots,soft robotics,science,technology,agriculture,feature,photo,video
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