Scientists have been able to link plants and artificial intelligence in Singapore. They connected plants with special electrodes that can receive the smallest electrical impulses naturally coming from grasses, creating a bio-robotic complex bilaterally controlled by both the plant and the artificial intelligence.
For example, through this system, the Venus flytrap got connected to smartphones, and by pressing one finger on the iPhone, the plant immediately closes its jaws. There is also a robotic arm that picks up items from the floor remotely by connecting the electrodes.
Scientists predict that soon advanced "plant-robots" will be created that will be much more sensitive than other robots that existed before, and unlike them, will be able to pick up or identify smaller and more delicate objects.
"Such plant-robots could be equipped with many types of artificial intelligence and hardware to create new hybrid systems," said Chen Xiaodun, a lead researcher at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in Singapore. However, there are some problems, he says, by connecting Venus flytrap to the smartphone, it is possible to move the mouth from the iPhone, and as for closing the jaws, it can not be done biologically and takes more than 10 hours.
Scientists see the prospect of widespread use of "plant-robots" in agriculture. Through them, farmers will read the smallest electrical impulses coming from crops and pre-identify and prevent various problems, including plant anomalies and diseases. Soil suitability criteria will also be established.
In 2016, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology connected spinach leaves with electrodes to special radars, making it possible to detect explosives in groundwater with electrical impulses coming from the ground.
