An interesting new area that is now opening up is cyborg botany, an innovative field that seeks to integrate the digital electronic world with the natural world of plants.
Cyborg plants could be used to detect pollutants such as lead by changing their internal signals or emitting infrared light when they sense the presence of lead in the water they absorb. Plants could potentially replace conventional sensors, as they can make subtle changes through movement or growth whenever they detect motion.
Recent research is also exploring the use of large language models to create plant robots as hybrid life forms, facilitating interaction between biological and artificial systems. Plants already possess electrochemical signals and response mechanisms that make them surprisingly similar to electronic devices.
The central idea of cyborg botany is to merge and power electronic functionalities using the existing natural capabilities and biological functions of living plants. Experimenters have used plants such as the Venus flytrap and Mimosa pudica, triggering movement in these plants through software commands.
Electrodes are attached to specific parts of the plants where ionic imbalances naturally trigger movement, such as the mid-rib and mid-leaf in a Venus flytrap. When a user clicks on a corresponding electrode location in the software, the electrodes are stimulated, causing the plant’s leaves to move. Wires embedded inside plants can also turn them into antennas capable of functioning as motion sensors.
For instance, a plant could detect when a cat moves down a hallway and send an alert to a phone indicating that motion has been detected. Such plant cyborgs could be used in security and military installations to detect movement.
This emerging field explores several possibilities, including using plants’ natural signals to power robotic movement, embedding electronics within plants and creating cyborg plants that can sense their environment and act as interfaces between living systems and machines.
Cyborg botany began with early experiments that used plants as simple sensors. Initial work involved harnessing plants’ electrochemical signals to move a robot, creating a one-way interaction where a plant’s natural responses influenced a machine.
Today, researchers are developing bi-directional relationships, allowing plants to both sense and respond to digital input. One example is Elowan, a hybrid plant-robot that uses a plant’s light-sensing ability to navigate toward a light source. Researchers have also started embedding digital electronics inside plants to create new types of interfaces.
The ultimate goal is to develop cyborg plants that function as interactive units, display notifications and reduce electronic waste by using the plant itself as the interface. Research continues into growing conductive “wires” inside plants and translating plant signals into forms that other systems can understand.
Nature contains a vast diversity of plant organisms, many with unique sensing and expression abilities. Plants can sense their environment, interact with other living organisms and regenerate, actuate, or grow in response to stimuli. Merging synthetic circuitry with plant physiology could make these life forms responsive to human interaction while enabling sustainable and widespread deployment.
Swedish researchers have been working on regulating plant growth using electronic wires grown inside the plant’s own nutrient channels. These wires can host sensors and drug-delivery systems, providing precise amounts of plant hormones at optimal times. Sensors and other devices could one day harvest electricity from photosynthesis, the natural process by which plants convert sunlight into chemical energy. Researchers have even built functional transistors—the basic switches of modern electronics—using wires embedded within plants.
Early attempts to thread conductive polymer wires through the xylem resulted in clogged vessels or severe toxic reactions. Eventually, researchers discovered that a liquid solution containing a polymer could be absorbed by the xylem and distributed evenly throughout the plant. This solution later formed solid wires capable of conducting electricity while still allowing water and nutrients to flow.
The formation of these “xylem wires” was enabled by the plant’s vascular system and delayed immune response. Their successful creation allowed researchers to develop organic electrochemical transistors inside plants, converting chemical signals into electronic outputs. These transistors could form the basic hardware for more advanced plant-cyborg devices.
Rose leaves have even been transformed into living electronic displays by inserting conducting materials into the leaves and remotely manipulating them to change color patterns. Since the basic structure of roses resembles trees, they could theoretically become living cyborg plants, or “e-plants.”
Using advanced techniques, scientists are inserting artificial components into plants’ natural structures to enhance their inherent abilities. To grow wires inside rose stems, researchers mixed wire-forming molecules into water and placed cut roses into it. As the plants absorbed water, they also absorbed these molecules, which self-organized into conductive wires within the stem.
The material used was a polymer—long, chain-like molecules ideal for slipping into narrow spaces such as xylem vessels. These polymers did not harm the plants or interfere with photosynthesis. Polymer-infused plants survived just as long as untreated ones.
Some cyborg leaves contain tiny antennae that help plants capture more light, producing up to 30% more energy than normal leaves. Scientists have also inserted nanomachines into chloroplasts to enhance energy production. Other tiny sensors can detect pollutants in groundwater and relay that information externally.
An explosive-detecting plant has been developed that emits infrared light when it detects bomb-related chemicals. A camera and computer system monitor this signal and automatically send warnings when detected.
Cyborg roots, known as “robo-roots,” contain sensors that measure nutrients, moisture and pressure in the soil. These roots can bend away from obstacles and toward water or nutrients. Some can even grow using a process similar to 3D printing, extending themselves by layering material at the root tip under the control of a central computer.
Known as Plantoid, this system can be used to detect pollutants in soil and air, explore hazardous environments, or even gather data on other planets. Cyborg plants could one day replace traditional sensor systems altogether.
Technologies such as embedded plant wires, nano-machines and robotic roots are transforming plants into powerful new versions of themselves—potentially healthier, more efficient and more intelligent. In the future, people may walk past roses that not only beautify streets but also scan for pollution, while plant-inspired robots explore distant planets.
Many people seek nature to escape technology. But in the near future, nature itself may become part of our connected, electrified world.