Seed-like devices for reforestation and sensing

Forests are fundamental for climate change mitigation, but their survival is at risk due to deforestation practices. Nowadays, aerial seeding is one of the most applied techniques for reforestation, but it suffers from low germination rates due to the direct exposure of unburied seeds to harsh sunlight, wind, granivorous birds, and undesirable air humidity and temperature. In this framework, we will use artificial soft seed-like robots for reforestation that can be released by a drone platform, passively dispersed by wind in large and remote areas, in order to increase the chance of soil burial and seed germination. The artificial seeds will be based on biodegradable materials and integrated with natural seeds of autochthonous species useful for reforestation. The design will be inspired by natural seeds to optimize the shape and provide the necessary abilities to penetrate in the soil. Moreover, the materials of the artificial seeds will be functionalized to detect humidity or other physical parameters (e.g. temperature) at the soil surface for remote monitoring and potentially for meteo-hydrological modelling studies over large areas. A mechanism to release the artificial seeds will be developed and integrated onboard of drone platforms. The release of the seed-like robots will be controllable in position and quantity from a remote operator.