Rise of the ‘robo-plants’, as scientists fuse nature with tech

A PhD student at NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering attaching an electrode on the surface of a Venus flytrap plant at a laboratory in Singapore, as scientists develop a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Remote-controlled Venus flytrap “robo-plants” and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation.

Researchers in Singapore linked up plants to electrodes capable of monitoring the weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by the greenery.