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Robot plants Putting down roots 植物机器人 落地生根 A robotic model of what plants get up to under thesurface 模仿植物根部工作的机器人模型 PEOPLE often forget, when looking at a garden,meadow or forest, that half of almost every plantin it is underground. 在人们望着花园，草原或者森林时，常常会忽略一点几乎所有生长于斯的植物的身体中有一半都长于地下。 Stems, leaves and flowers are pretty. 茎干，叶片和花朵都很美丽， But plants roots, though ugly andinvisible, are probably their smartest parts. 但是既不露面又不好看的根部却很可能是植物身上最有智慧的部分。 They collect information on the physical properties and chemical composition of the soilthey are growing through 它们在土壤中成长，并搜集土壤的物理性质及化学组分的信息， and use that to decide in which direction to continue growing. 然后决定新的生长方向。 They can pierce the ground employing only a fraction of the energy that worms, moles orman-made drills consume. 它们只耗用一点能量便能在土地中钻行，仅相当于蠕虫，鼹鼠或人造钻机所耗能量的一小部分。 | 
