Growth and tropism

Plants or plant parts, such as roots or leaves, have the capacity of moving by growing in response to external stimuli with high plasticity and morphological adaptation to the environment. This chapter analyses some plant features and how they have been translated in artificial devices and control. A new generation of ICT hardware and software technologies inspired from plants is described, which includes an artificial root-like prototype that moves in soil imitating the sloughing mechanism of cells at the root apex level; as well as innovative osmotic-based actuators that generate movement imitating turgor variation in the plant cells. As future directions, new technologies expected from the study of plants concern energy-efficient actuation systems, chemical and physical microsensors, sensor fusion techniques, kinematics models, and distributed, adaptive control in networked structures with local information and communication capabilities.