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Data from: In situ foliar augmentation of multiple species for optical phenotyping and bioengineering using soft robotics

Ilman, Mehmet Mert12; Huber, Annika1; Mishra, Anand1; Sen, Sabyasachi1; Wang, Fumin3; Lin, Tiffany1; Jander, Georg3; Stroock, Abraham1; Shepherd, Robert1

Published Dec 11, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9kd51c5vm

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Abstract

Precision agriculture aims to increase crop yield while reducing the use of harmful chemicals (e.g., pesticides, excess fertilizer) by employing minimal, tailored interventions. These strategies, however, are limited by (i) sensor quality, which typically relies on visual plant expressions, and (ii) the manual, destructive nature of many non-visual measurement methods, such as the Scholander pressure bomb. By automating more intimate interactions with foliage, in vivo, it would be possible to inject chemical and biological probes that reveal more phenotypes, such as water stress in response to varying environmental conditions, and visible gene expression to measure the success of gene engineering applications. To address this, we developed a soft robotic leaf gripper and stamping-injection method to improve foliar delivery of nanoscale synthetic and biological probes. This allows for non-destructive, in situ, multi-species applications. We used two probes: (i) Agrobacterium tumefaciens carrying the RUBY gene as a reporter system for plant transformation, and (ii) nanoparticle hydrogels for measuring leaf water potential (ψ). Our hourglass-shaped design enabled the gripper to achieve higher forces with reduced radial expansion, resulting in an injection success rate above 91%. Studies on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) showed our method achieved an average 12-fold increase in infiltration areas, with significantly less leaf damage—3.6% in sunflower and none in cotton—compared to the needle-free syringe method. Enabling long periods of successful in vivo phenotyping on both species following precise and safe foliar delivery underscores the potential of the leaf gripper for robotic plant bioengineering.