Next-Generation Biohybrids: Engineering Miniature Machines Inspired by Plant Systems (Talk)
- Dr. Isabella Fiorello (Junior Group Leader at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive, and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS))
- University of Freiburg
- More information
Among living organisms, plants are an ideal source of inspiration for robotics and engineering due to their remarkable evolutionary adaptations to almost every habitat. When miniaturized, plant-inspired machines can navigate confined and complex unstructured surfaces. We introduce a new class of plant-inspired, microfabricated hybrid machines designed for multifunctional tasks such as in situ monitoring and targeted cargo delivery. These machines combine bioinspired design with biohybrid approaches, incorporating the morphological and biomechanical features of both terrestrial and aquatic plants. Advanced techniques such as microcomputed tomography, two-photon lithography, and bioprinting enable the production of scalable and sustainable prototypes. Tested in real-world environments (such as soil, leaf tissues, and aquatic habitats) these machines have demonstrated their potential in applications like climbing robots, precision agriculture, reforestation, and underwater sensing. These technologies showcase the promise of plant-inspired biohybrid machines in environmental protection, conservation, and advanced engineering, with significant implications for fields such as material science, soft robotics, and precision agriculture.
Biography: Dr. Isabella Fiorello is a Junior Group Leader at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive, and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS) at the University of Freiburg, where she leads the Biohybrid Machines group. Since October 2023, she has also been a Fulbright Visiting researcher at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (USA). She obtained her Master’s Degree in Industrial Biotechnology (with honors) from the University of Turin (Italy) in 2017 and her PhD in Biorobotics (with honors) from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Pisa, Italy) in 2021. From 2021 to 2023, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy). Throughout her career, Dr. Fiorello has received prestigious international awards, including the Young Researcher of the Year – ENI Award 2022, an Early Career National Geographic Grant, and a Fulbright Scholar. Her research focuses on developing biologically-inspired microfabricated living materials capable of precise interactions with complex, unstructured surfaces, with applications in precision agriculture, smart fabrics, space exploration, and soft robotics.
Details
- 10 December 2024 • 11:00 - 12:00
- Hybrid - Webex plus in-person attendance in Copper (2R04)
- Intelligent Systems
