Cyborg botany : augmented plants as sensors, displays and actuators
Name
1026501855-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
16.42 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5c2e6da99dd6967fda2095325bd3dcd7
Author(s)
Sareen, Harpreet
Advisor(s)
Pattie Maes.
Alternative Title
Augmented plants as sensors, displays and actuators
Date Issued
2017
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Plants are photosynthetic eukaryotes with a billion years of evolutionary history. While primarily sessile, they have developed distinctive abilities to adapt to the environment. They are self-powered, self-fabricating, self-regenerating and active signal networks. They carry highly advanced systems to sense and respond to the environment. We strive for such sensing and responses in our electronics; self growing or self repairing abilities in our architecture; and being sustainable at scale in general. The industrial and technological thought process has mostly been devising artificial means or replicating natural systems synthetically. However, I propose a convergent view of technological evolution with our ecology where techno-plant hybrids are created. The approach is to formulate symbiotic associations and to place the technology in conjunction with the plant function(s). In this thesis, I go from the outside to inside the plants in conceiving such synergetic processes and present case studies of their implementation and analysis. I begin with a robot-plant hybrid where the robotic device adds mobility and is triggered with the plant's own signals. Next, lead (II) detection nanosensors are presented which reside inside the leaf of a plant and continuously sample through plant hydraulics. This is followed with a design study for plants with new conductive channels grown inside them and their subsequent use as inconspicuous motion sensors. I conclude with a symbiotic robot that lives on a sunflower plant and automatically trains or directs its growth with onboard lighting. The end result is an augmented-plant society where technology adds non-native functions or redirects the natural processes..
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 94-98).
Subjects
Program in Media Arts and Sciences ()
MIT Department
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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