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Project Persons Year Tags
Jurema Action Plant Bert van DuijnIvan Henriques (V2_) 2011 biology, environment, biodiversity, interaction, environmentalism, prototype, plant, robot
Plants are moving creatures. Their movements generally remains invisible to us, because their muscle and nerve-like systems operate at a very slow timescale and their rooting in soil confines their motion to the movement of branches and leaves. These restrictions give plants an enormous disadvantage compared to their main aggressors: animals and humans, in many instances resulting in a loss of biodiversity and even extinction. In the prototype that Ivan Henriques developed during the V2_ Summer Sessions a plant is provided with an off-the-shelf motor system. The potential of the plant to sense when it is being touched is used to set the motor in action. By doing so, the plant is able to speedily drive away in response to human touch.