An Example of Drones Sensing Rare or Hidden Things

I like the hidden and rare sensing aspect of the problem.   Other Applications? 

 Daredevil Drones Find Nearly Extinct Plants Hiding in Cliffs

Reuters, Daisy Chung; Gloria Dickie; Simon Scarr, December 10, 2022

Scientists at Hawaii's nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) and the state's Division of Forestry and Wildlife are using drones to find and collect samples of nearly extinct plants in cliffs and other hard-to-reach locations. NTBG's Ben Nyberg and researchers at Canadian aerospace company Outreach Robotics developed the Multi-Use Aerial Manipulator Bidirectionally Actuated (Mamba), which dangles on a cable below a drone. The remote-piloted robot arm can detach from the drone to pluck plant samples in perilous regions as far as 4 meters (13 feet) away. Mamba has so far collected 29 cuttings or seeds from 12 endangered plant species on the island of Kauai. Nyberg suggested the robot "can be the difference between extinction and survival" for such plant species.

Full Article

Sensors and AI Improve Plant Environments

 Via BBC,  Claim to improved agriculture. 

'We talk to plants - they tell us how happy they are'

Vertical farming - growing plants indoors, on stacked levels, in a highly controlled environment - allows higher yields.

And now, the Gardin company hopes to further improve productivity, using sensors and artificial intelligence to assess individual leaves and suggest changes to each plant's environment.

BBC Click's Laura Goodwin reports.

Integrating Plants into Building Design

Like the integration of plants and buildings.   Beyond sustainability.  

Playing with Dirt Leads to Big Potential for Sustainable Buildings

UVA Today, Karen Walker, July 27, 2022

University of Virginia (UVA) researchers are experimenting with methods to incorporate plants into buildings to advance sustainability. The researchers demonstrated the feasibility of three-dimensionally (3D)-printing complex structures composed of soil and seed. UVA's Ehsan Baharlou said, "We are working with local soils and plants mixed with water; the only electricity we need is to move the material and run a pump during printing." UVA's Spencer Barnes tested 3D-printing soil and seed in sequential layers and combining seed and soil before printing, then proposed fabricating geometrically intricate soil structures like domes. The researchers discovered that although 3D-printed soil structures can support plant growth, it would likely be limited to plants compatible with drier climates.

Full Article    

Plants Talking

 Am a long-time amateur botanist, and heard of such things long ago, thought little of it, but the science is still evolving.    Here an excerpt of work underway:

Some aspects of plant behavior can be studied in the same terms as animal or human behavior

DENYSE O'LEARY APRIL 9, 2022  in Mindmatters

One genuine surprise in recent decades has been the discovery that plants have nervous systems like animals and use some of the same compounds in communications — for example, TMAO to relieve stress and glutamate to speed transmission.

Venus flytrap at work

Biologist Peter Rogers pointed out recently that the similarities may shed a bit of light on issues around anaesthesia. Surprisingly, it is possible to anesthetize a plant. The shameplant (Mimosa pudica) and the Venus flytrap demonstrated that:

Thirty years after anesthesia debuted in the operating room, Claude Bernard, a French physiologist, demonstrated that the shameplant (Mimosa pudica), which bashfully folds into itself when touched, was unresponsive to touch after exposure to ether, a commonly used anesthetic. The plant also folds into itself at night time, but this movement was not affected by anesthesia. Bernard concluded that anesthesia does not inhibit the ability to move; rather, it inhibits the plant’s ability to sense its environment. That is to say, anesthesia blocks consciousness…

PETER ROGERS, “HOW VENUS FLYTRAPS GIVE SCIENTISTS INSIGHTS ON CONSCIOUSNESS AND ANESTHESIA” AT BIG THINK (MARCH 27, 2022)  ...... '

McKinsey On Autonomous Plants

The autonomous plant: Entering a new digital era  

September 10, 2021 | Article  McKinsey

By Gopal Chakrabarti, Dominik Don, Micah Smith, and Premal Vora

The autonomous plant: Entering a new digital era

The requirements of the energy transition present significant industry challenges. Energy companies must embrace new technologies, transform management systems, and expand workforce capabilities.

Energy companies are operating in uncertain times. They face societal pressure and increased regulation to significantly reduce fossil-fuel dependency, primarily characterized by reliance on transport fuels, plastics, and other refining and petrochemical products. Under these conditions, companies are looking to maximize the health and resilience of downstream operations—particularly in oil and gas and chemicals—by adopting new automation and digital technologies, enabling increased levels of data usage and performance transparency, as well as faster decision loops.

Many of these changes were already occurring and have only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a newfound sense of urgency. Yet digital strategies remain challenging for the energy sector for several reasons, namely keeping up with increased decarbonization efforts, workforce changes, and accelerated technological innovations. Many companies have responded with short-term solutions but remain indecisive about how to identify priorities in the years to come.  ... '