For environmental monitoring: miniature swimming robots with fin drive
The swimming robot from EPFL and the Max Planck Institute is small, light and has a fin drive with artificial muscles.
The swimming robot can monitor the environment with its sensors. Here it swims in a simulated rice field.
(Image: EPFL u. a.)
The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne School of Engineering (EPFL) and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI IS) have jointly developed a swimming robot for environmental monitoring that works with high-voltage technology. It can carry many times its weight and moves with little energy.
The robot is smaller than the surface area of a credit card and weighs just 6 g, the scientists write in the study “Highly agile flat swimming robot”, published in Science Robotics. It is shaped in such a way that it can swim and can carry loads on its upper side that weigh more than the robot itself.
Nimble fins
The robot is powered by a silent propulsion system inspired by marine flatworms. It uses thin, wave-shaped fins to propel the swimming robot. The scientists deliberately chose not to use a propeller drive. Firstly, such a drive is quieter and secondly, it can be designed to use less energy than a drive that requires an electric motor. In addition, the robot moves in a more natural way and disturbs the ecosystem less.
The robot swings its fins up to ten times faster than its natural model, the marine flatworm. This enables it to reach a remarkable speed of 0.12 m/s. This corresponds to around 2.6 body lengths per second. The researchers use four muscle-like actuators as a drive. They are controlled by a very compact electronic control system.
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The actuators receive a voltage of 500 V at a low power of 500 mW. By comparison, this is only a quarter of the power of a conventional electric toothbrush. The scientists emphasize that when developing the system, care was taken to ensure that the circuits are completely shielded due to the high voltage and do not pose a risk to the environment.
To be able to navigate, the scientists have equipped the robot with simple light sensors as a kind of eyes. This enables the robot to independently recognize light sources and follow them. The researchers tested this with rubber ducks to which they strapped an LED lamp. The robot then followed the rubber ducks.
For environmental monitoring and agriculture
The researchers see the main area of application for their swimming robot in environmental monitoring of bodies of water. The robot is able to maneuver precisely in the tightest of spaces, meaning it can move forwards, backwards and sideways and turn on the spot. It could carry sensors adapted to its specific purpose as a payload. It is also conceivable that it could be used in agriculture to monitor the growth and health of rice plants.
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The scientists are now working on improving the robot's running time. They also want to increase the robot's autonomy.
(olb)
