Plantbot: Integrating Plant and Robot through LLM Modular Agent Networks
This work proposes a new model of artificial life for applications in robotics and biology, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing LLM and modular agent concepts.
The researchers tackled the problem of integrating biological and artificial systems by creating Plantbot, a hybrid lifeform that connects a living plant with a mobile robot through a network of LLM modules, resulting in an embodied, adaptive agent capable of autonomous responses to environmental conditions.
We introduce Plantbot, a hybrid lifeform that connects a living plant with a mobile robot through a network of large language model (LLM) modules. Each module - responsible for sensing, vision, dialogue, or action - operates asynchronously and communicates via natural language, enabling seamless interaction across biological and artificial domains. This architecture leverages the capacity of LLMs to serve as hybrid interfaces, where natural language functions as a universal protocol, translating multimodal data (soil moisture, temperature, visual context) into linguistic messages that coordinate system behaviors. The integrated network transforms plant states into robotic actions, installing normativity essential for agency within the sensor-motor loop. By combining biological and robotic elements through LLM-mediated communication, Plantbot behaves as an embodied, adaptive agent capable of responding autonomously to environmental conditions. This approach suggests possibilities for a new model of artificial life, where decentralized, LLM modules coordination enable novel interactions between biological and artificial systems.