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Pangolin-inspired robot poops tree seeds into holes it digs


Foraging pangolins already dig in the dirt, so why not get them planting trees while they're at it? Well, training them would be pretty hard, which is why a California high school student named Dorothy designed a pangolin-inspired robot to do the digging and planting.

Well, training them would be pretty hard, which is why a California high school student named Dorothy designed a pangolin-inspired robot to do the digging and planting. Dubbed the Plantolin, the bio-inspired bot is the latest winner of the annual Natural Robotics Contest, which is run by the University of Surrey and funded by the British Ecological Society. The long tail is raised as a counterweight when the robot is making its way across the ground, but tilts down to provide leverage once the bot stops to start digging.

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