Battery-driven faster ‘fish’ to probe pollution
Print Edition
SCIENTISTS in east China’s Zhejiang Province have created a robotic “fish” that is expected to be used to record the temperature and salinity of the sea and detect pollutants, according to Li Tiefeng, an associate professor at Zhejiang University.
The device, just over 9 centimeters long and weighing 90 grams, has an electric controller at its core, fins made of silicone, and a silicone body and tail.
All components are transparent except for a small battery pack and two electromagnets.
“The soft and transparent body will make it easy for the robot to sneak through narrow reefs without being damaged or detected by other sea creatures,” Li said.
Instead of being powered by a traditional motor, the fish is built with artificial muscles, stimuli-responsive polymers that can bend or stretch under a cyclic voltage provided by a lithium battery.
“Soft artificial muscle can respond quickly to electricity, meaning faster fin flapping and greater speed,” Li said.
At its top speed, the robot can swim 6 centimeters a second, double the previous record for similar untethered underwater robots.
Connected to an exterior power supply, the fish can swim up to 14 centimeters per second, about the same speed as a similar-sized real fish.
“The materials used in the robot are common, cheap and environmentally friendly, with the potential to be produced on a large scale in China,” Li said.
“Our next step is to improve the efficiency of the artificial muscle and develop key techniques for mass production.”
The findings were published in the academic journal Scientific Advances earlier this month.
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