Researchers at the State University of New York's Binghamton University have created an innovative aquatic robot that can glide over water while collecting environmental data. The potential for such robotics in environmental monitoring and conservation efforts is seen as a game-changer in the industry.
The 'internet of things' era is coming, with predictions suggesting as many as one trillion autonomous nodes will be integrated into human affairs by 2035. Such integration would mean virtually everything around us, regardless of size, could potentially relay data to a central database without human involvement.
With 71% of the Earth's surface covered in water, developing technology that can function in aquatic environments is crucial. This has led to the launch of programs such as the Ocean of Things by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Over the last decade, the Office of Naval Research has funded Professor Seokheun "Sean" Choi from Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science to develop bacteria-powered biobatteries. Team members Anwar Elhadad and Yang "Lexi" Gao joined Choi to build the self-powered aquatic bot using similar technology.
The robotic "bug" operates on a Janus interface, which stays hydrophilic on one side and hydrophobic on the other. This system allows the robot to take in nutrients from the water, used to fuel bacterial spore production whilst keeping them contained. As Choi explains, this mechanism encourages the bacteria to become vegetative cells and produce power under favorable conditions.
These novel robots boast a power generation of close to 1 milliwatt, which is adequate to run mechanical movements and onboard sensors. These sensors can gather valuable environmental data, such as water temperature, pollution levels, commercial vessel and aircraft movements, and even the behaviors of aquatic animals.
Being mobile, these robots are a significant upgrade over the current smart floats, stationary devices chained to a singular location. The future of these aquatic robots might see researchers studying the most energy-efficient bacteria to endure in stressful ocean conditions.
Choi has noted that future pursuits will be geared towards understanding what bacterial cells can best survive in the ocean, where various species can influence the power density and durability of these robots. He suggested using machine learning to find the optimal mixture of bacterial species for achieving these traits.
Disclaimer: The above article was written with the assistance of AI. The original sources can be found on ScienceDaily.
