Motion sensor made out of weeds works without battery

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Who would have thought that weeds would be the basis for innovation? Qi Chen, PhD student at the University of Groningen (RUG), is developing a plant-based sensor, the size of an SD card, says the RUG in a press release. Chen: ‘This sensor uses a green form of energy: it harvests movement, and converts it into an electrical signal.’ This allows the sensor to recognise specific movements. To do that, she cleverly exploited the natural properties of the pitrus plant, a persistent weed that grows mostly in wet areas.