Meet the robo-farmers saving our rare plants

Some plants only grow in super steep or slippery places — cliffsides, deep jungles, tops of mountains. Botanists (plant scientists) can't safely reach them. So a team in Switzerland built 'PlantPals' — small four-legged robots that climb through wild terrain, snap 3D photos of rare plants, collect a few tiny seeds, and log their exact GPS location. Each robot is powered by solar panels on its back. Since 2023, PlantPals have discovered 12 completely new plant species AND saved 40 endangered ones by growing new plants from the seeds they collected.