E-seed: Shape-Changing Interfaces that Self Drill

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DOI

As sensors and interactive devices become ubiquitous and transition outdoors and into the wild, we are met with the challenge of mass deployment and actuation. We present Eseed, a biomimetic platform that consumes little power to deploy, harvests energy from nature to install, and functions autonomously in the field. Each seed can individually selfdrill into a substrate by harvesting moisture fluctuations in its ambient environment. As such, E-seed acts as a shapechanging interface to autonomously embed functional devices and interfaces into the soil, with the potential of aerial deployment in hard-to-reach locations. Our system is constructed primarily from wood veneer, making it lightweight, inexpensive, and biodegradable. In this paper, we detail our fabrication process and showcase demos that leverage the E-seed platform as a self-drilling interface. We envision that possible applications include soil sensors, sampling, and environmental monitoring for agriculture and reforestation.