Plant-hybrid machines, sensors, energy systems -Workshop IEEE RoboSoft 2021

In the last years, a new generation of biohybrid devices has started being developed that interacts with living plants and uses plants as part of integrated devices. The often soft devices employ living plants to derive new strategies for sensing, energy conversion, biodegradation, and environmental monitoring. The prototypes range from integrated sensors to energy harvesting systems in which plants are key components. Soft materials or intrinsically adapt gently to the plant tissue, leaves, and other organs without significantly influencing the physiology. Combining plants with artificial components to achieve efficient and useful biohybrid devices, however, is truly still in an early developmental stage. In this workshop, we would like to bring pioneers of the field together and open up a discussion on how soft machines can contribute to plant-hybrid devices and create promising technologies spanning from agricultural and ecosystem monitoring to energy harvesting.