Robotic Plants Grow with Environment

When we think of bio-inspired robots, we usually think of robot arms modeled after human arms or robots inspired by animals with specific characteristics like this fast-running cheetah robot.
But we haven't traditionally thought of plants as robots. Plants grow and move all around us without us ever really noticing. They move in lots of interesting ways that we don't see.
Now, NSF-supported Clemson University electrical and computer engineers are teaming up with mechanical engineers at Virginia Tech to create the first-ever origami plant-inspired robots.