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Ultra-light, agile robot sets new standard for precision agriculture and ecological studies.
Scientists at the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) have revealed an innovative swimming robot that has the potential to transform the way we track aquatic ecosystems and respond to environmental issues. Weighing only six grams, the small robot, which draws inspiration from marine flatworms, pushes itself with rising and falling fins to navigate very tight, debris-ridden spaces with incredible accuracy and efficiency. In contrast to conventional propeller-driven robots, which can disrupt delicate environments, this bio-inspired robot swims silently, causing little disturbance to wildlife.
The demand for sophisticated robotic technology for environmental monitoring has never been more acute. As pollution, loss of biodiversity, and the deterioration of critical ecosystems like coral reefs and lakes increase, the invention of such tiny robots is a milestone. This new robot is able to traverse complex spaces like rice paddies or examine underwater equipment, all with payloads greater than its weight.
The design team at the Soft Transducers Lab and Unsteady Flow Diagnostics Laboratory at EPFL worked together with the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. They had an uphill task ahead of them since developing a miniature, untethered robot that can function optimally in underwater environments meant crossing a multitude of technical barriers. By using soft actuators and tiny electronics, the fins of the robot oscillate at 10 times the rate of a natural marine flatworm's fins, achieving a speed of 12 centimeters per second.
The robot's low-energy, high-voltage electronics run on just 500 milliwatts, making it energy-efficient and eco-friendly. Light sensors help the robot navigate autonomously, detecting and following light sources.
This progress has the potential to create a significant breakthrough in ecological research, precision agriculture, and pollution monitoring. The researchers are currently developing the robot's autonomy for continued field tests, with plans to widen its scope of real-world applications.
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