FiloBot is the latest addition to the generation of plant robots, born thanks to the research of Barbara Mazzolai's group from the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa. Possible applications include environmental monitoring, for example with the measurement of pollution in dangerous areas and the exploration of difficult to reach and unknown natural environments.
The idea for the climbing robot was born by observing plants, which move thanks to cell division and the elongation at the ends of shoots and roots. FiloBot never develops in the same way, but each time it takes on a different configuration depending on the stimuli that it receives from the environment.