Briefly

Plantoid robot-plants

The Plantoid project, which received 1.6 million euros in financing from the European Union’s Future and Emerging Technologies programme, copies plants in order to advance robotics. A 3D-printed tree, leaf-sensors that detect environmental parameters, robotic roots that grow and change direction… Two robot-plant prototypes have been made by a team coordinated by Barbara Mazzolai of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), one with a system of roots that bend according to stimuli sent from the sensors, the other with artificial growth of these roots, while the trunk hosts a computer and the leaves hold the sensors (temperature, humidity, contact and chemical factors).

Read the scientific article by the community service information on European research and development

Haoqimao, China’s first biohackerspace

China’s first biohackerspace, Haoqimao (literally “curious cat”), came into being under French influence, according to Johann Recordon, project manager of the Lift conferences, who reveals this bit of information as an assessment of Lift China in September 2014. The project leader, Tony Gu, is an entrepreneur from Shenzhen who met Thomas Landrain, founder of la Paillasse, at the Lift Makers Tour organized during this Chinese edition of Lift. Furthermore, “Shanghai’s first biohackerspace should open in November,” according to David Li, co-founder of the XinCheJian hackerspace and Hacked Matter lab.