Sensors used for agricultural purposes aren’t new. Companies have created sensors that farmers can use to detect things, like pollutants in the air, moisture in the soil, and so on. However given that plants are actually pretty good sensors themselves and can react naturally to stimuli and external changes, why not use them instead?
That’s the idea behind DARPA’s latest initiative called the Advanced Plant Technologies program. The idea is through genetic manipulation, researchers will be able to create plants that are self-sustaining, which in turn allows them to act as sensors of sorts when it comes to picking up chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and so on.
This is actually not the first time that this idea has come up, but prior to that, it used resources that plants need to survive, which in turn reduced their hardiness. This new idea suggests that the plants themselves could be self-sustaining which means that they’ll be able to function out in the wild longer.
This means that in the future, plants could be used to sense when a biohazard attack could be taking place, plus the fact that they’re plants also means that they can be placed anywhere and no one would really think twice about their presence. Proposals for the idea will be taken on the 12th of December, and if you are interested in submitting your plan, you can do so by registering until the 6th of December via DARPA’s website.
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