Electrically Controlled Plant Soft Actuator

Owing to their adaptive interfacial properties, soft actuators can be used to perform more delicate tasks than their rigid counterparts. However, traditional polymeric soft actuators rely on energy conversion for actuation, resulting in high power input or slow responses. In this presentation, we show how a Venus flytrap can be used to build on-demand actuator devices. Plant-conformable electrodes were developed as a physical interface, and frequency-dependent action potential modulation was explored as an electrical communication protocol. The resulting plant-based actuator uses Venus flytrap lobes as the actuating unit and conformable electrodes as the electrical modulating unit. The electrical actuator requires no energy conversion and is power efficient (input voltage and power as low as 1.5 V and 10⁻⁵ W, respectively). It is also responsive (response time can be modulated to around 1.3 s), compatible with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-based electronics (easily accessed using a Wi-Fi module for wireless smartphone control), modular and installable on various platforms (can be isolated from plant stem and integrated on a finger, robotic hand or manipulator), and capable of capturing fine and moving objects.