Open AccessOptimal control of plant root tip dynamics in soil
Author(s) -
Fabio Tedone,
Emanuela Del Dottore,
Michele Palladino,
Barbara Mazzolai,
Pierangelo Marcati
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bioinspiration and biomimetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1748-3190
pISSN - 1748-3182
DOI - 10.1088/1748-3190/ab9a15
Subject(s) - plant root , penetration (warfare) , plant growth , dynamics (music) , root (linguistics) , plant roots , replicate , biological system , control theory (sociology) , optimal control , feedback control , computer science , biochemical engineering , control (management) , engineering , agricultural engineering , control engineering , mathematics , mathematical optimization , physics , agronomy , artificial intelligence , botany , biology , linguistics , philosophy , statistics , operations research , acoustics
This paper aims to propose a novel approach to model the dynamics of objects that move within the soil, e.g. plants roots. One can assume that external forces are significant only at the tip of the roots, where the plant’s growth is actuated. We formulate an optimal control problem that minimises the energy spent by a growing root subject to physical constraints imposed by the surrounding soil at the tip. We study the motion strategy adopted by plant roots to facilitate penetration into the soil, which we hypothesize to be a circumnutation movement. By solving the proposed optimal control problem numerically, we validate the hypothesis that plant roots adopt a circumnutation motion pattern to reduce soil penetration resistance during growth. The proposed formalisation could be applied to replicate such a biological behaviour in robotic systems, to adopt the most efficient strategy for autonomous devices in soil exploration.