10.1088/1748-3190/ab9a15
https://zenodo.org/records/4023090
oai:zenodo.org:4023090
Tedone, F.
F.
Tedone
1 Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), viale F. Crispi 7, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy 2 Center for Micro-Biorobotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025, Pontedera, Italy
Del Dottore, E.
E.
Del Dottore
Center for Micro-BioRobotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Palladino, M.
M.
Palladino
Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), viale F. Crispi 7, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy
Mazzolai, B.
B.
Mazzolai
Center for Micro-BioRobotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Marcati, P.
P.
Marcati
Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), viale F. Crispi 7, 67100, L'Aquila, Italy
Optimal control of plant root tip dynamics in soil
Zenodo
2020
2020-07-20
https://zenodo.org/communities/growbot
https://zenodo.org/communities/eu
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
This paper aims to propose a novel approach to model the dynamics of objects that move within the soil, e.g. plants roots. One can assume that external forces are significant only at the tip of the roots, where the plant's growth is actuated. We formulate an optimal control problem that minimises the energy spent by a growing root subject to physical constraints imposed by the surrounding soil at the tip. We study the motion strategy adopted by plant roots to facilitate penetration into the soil, which we hypothesize to be a circumnutation movement. By solving the proposed optimal control problem numerically, we validate the hypothesis that plant roots adopt a circumnutation motion pattern to reduce soil penetration resistance during growth. The proposed formalisation could be applied to replicate such a biological behaviour in robotic systems, to adopt the most efficient strategy for autonomous devices in soil exploration.
European Commission
10.13039/501100000780
824074
Towards a new generation of plant-inspired growing artefacts