In situ foliar augmentation of multiple species for optical phenotyping and bioengineering using soft robotics

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Robotics
• Plant Bioengineering
• Precision Agriculture

Background:

• Precision agriculture seeks to optimize crop yields and reduce chemical inputs.
• Current phenotyping methods are limited by sensor quality and destructive sampling.
• In vivo automated probe delivery can reveal advanced plant phenotypes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a soft robotic leaf gripper for improved foliar delivery of nanoscale probes.
• To enable nondestructive, in situ, and multispecies applications for plant analysis.
• To advance in vivo phenotyping for applications in plant bioengineering and stress monitoring.

Main Methods:

• A novel hourglass-shaped soft robotic leaf gripper was designed for high-force, low-expansion gripping.
• A stamping-injection method was employed for foliar delivery of probes.
• Two probes were utilized: Agrobacterium tumefaciens with the RUBY gene and nanoparticle hydrogels for water potential measurement.

Main Results:

• The gripper achieved over 91% injection success rate.
• Infiltration areas increased 12-fold compared to needle-free syringe methods.
• Leaf damage was minimal (3.6% in sunflower, none in cotton).

Conclusions:

• The robotic leaf gripper facilitates safe, precise, and efficient foliar delivery of probes.
• This technology supports long-term in vivo phenotyping for plant bioengineering.
• The method shows significant potential for advancing precision agriculture and crop improvement.