# Plantbot: Integrating Plant and Robot through LLM Modular Agent Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.05338 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.05338/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Multimodal and embodied agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 8 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Sep 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Multimodal and embodied agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/multimodal-and-embodied-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16291/) (2023)
- [RT-1: Robotics Transformer for Real-World Control at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06817/) (2022)
- [Project Sid: Many-agent simulations toward AI civilization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.00114/) (2024)
- [From Text to Motion: Grounding GPT-4 in a Humanoid Robot "Alter3"](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06571/) (2023)
- [Hybrid Life: Integrating Biological, Artificial, and Cognitive Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00285/) (2022)
- [Minimal Self in Humanoid Robot "Alter3" Driven by Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.11420/) (2024)
- [A Concurrent Modular Agent: Framework for Autonomous LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.19042/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce Plantbot, a hybrid lifeform that connects a living plant with a mobile robot through a network of large language model (LLM) modules. Each module - responsible for sensing, vision, dialogue, or action - operates asynchronously and communicates via natural language, enabling seamless interaction across biological and artificial domains. This architecture leverages the capacity of LLMs to serve as hybrid interfaces, where natural language functions as a universal protocol, translating multimodal data (soil moisture, temperature, visual context) into linguistic messages that coordinate system behaviors. The integrated network transforms plant states into robotic actions, installing normativity essential for agency within the sensor-motor loop. By combining biological and robotic elements through LLM-mediated communication, Plantbot behaves as an embodied, adaptive agent capable of responding autonomously to environmental conditions. This approach suggests possibilities for a new model of artificial life, where decentralized, LLM modules coordination enable novel interactions between biological and artificial systems.