Robots and drones are now the best buddies of plant biologists these days because of the increasing need for increased data on plants, not just on improved yields but also how plants can cope with climate changes or increasing populations needing to eat.

According to The Scientific American, robot overlords is the rise of mechanical and electronic supervision to the research on plants. Plant biologist Christopher Topp used to drive 600 kilometers. From North Carolina to Georgia to image his plants, all potted and dripping in water, to a Physics lab in that state. Now moved to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, Topp now has easier access to imaging equipment to examine his plants.

From February 10 to 14, 2017, plant biologists will gather together in Tucson, Arizona to compare methods and techniques on plant research. The need for speed in gathering data has been highlighted recently among the plant community, as not only the plant yields and the height have been traditionally studied but also their resilience against other external factors like climate changes.

"Phenotype is infinite," says Topp, referring to a plant's overall characteristics, which may include its physical traits and DNA sequencing. The best we can do is capture an aspect of it - and we want to capture the most comprehensive aspect we can," Nature notes.

The urgent need of these plant biologists for phenotypes spawned some remarkable projects and facilities for phenotyping plants lately. One of them is the US Department of Energy who in 2015, announced the launch of a US$34 million project using sensors, robotics and modern methods to map sorghum, a plant used as biofuel.

Likewise, the European Union last year launched a pan-European network of phenotyping facilities to address this issue. Just goes to show that the age of robots as the partners of Man in plant research have now begun.

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