Pangolins are already digging in the dirt looking for food, so why not have them plant some trees while they’re at it? Well, training them would be quite difficult. That’s why a California high school student named Dorothy designed a pangolin-inspired pangolin. robot Digging the ground and planting.
This bio-inspired robot, called Plantolin, is the latest winner of the annual Natural Robotics Contest, run by the University of Surrey and funded by the British Ecological Society.
Simply put, the competition invites people from all over the world to submit their ideas for nature-inspired robots that can do something to help our planet. The winning concept will be developed into a working prototype by one or more collaborating research organizations.
In Plantolin’s case, that partner was the University of Surrey itself. Other partners include Queen Mary University of London, Royal College of Art, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland), Technical University of Munich and Alexander Humboldt University (Germany). The previous winner was a robotic fish that filters microplastic particles from water.
University of Surrey
Much like a pangolin waddles on its two hind legs, Plantolin balances Segway-style on two wheels. Each wheel is powered by an electric quadcopter drone motor. The long tail stands as a counterweight as the robot moves across the ground, but tilts down to provide leverage when the robot begins digging.
Digging is accomplished by two motorized front legs. Its legs have claws that hold it in place when scooping up dirt, but passively retract when pulled forward to scoop up more dirt.
Once a hole is dug, the plantolin drives over it and poops out a yew “seed bomb” (basically a ball of seeds and dirt). ~ in Holes do that. These bombs are fed into a dispenser through a hole in the top of the robot, and transported by an internal conveyor belt to the robot’s “butt” where they disperse.
Depositphotos
“Restoring forests by planting more trees is essential for the sustainable development of our planet,” says Dorothy. “Pangolins spend a lot of time digging, so we thought a flowerpot robot inspired by pangolin behavior would be very natural.”
Plantolin was created by Dr Robert Siddall, a roboticist at the University of Surrey. He explains more about how the bot works in the video below.
Plantolin: Winner of the 2nd Natural Robotics Competition
Source: University of Surrey
