Silent Underwater Robot
By Corey Erban
Brief Summary
A new innovative, eel-like robot has been developed by engineers marine biologists at the University of California San Diego that can swim silently in salt water without an electric motor. Instead, the robot uses artificial muscles filled with water to propel itself. The foot-long robot is connected to an electronics board that remains on the surface and is also virtually transparent.
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| The Robot Operating |
Purpose
The bot is an important step toward a future where soft robots can swim in the ocean alongside fish and other animals without disturbing or harming them. Today, most underwater vehicles designed to observe and study marine life are like submarines and powered by electric motors with noisy propellers.
Instead of propellers, the robot uses soft artificial muscles to move like an eel underwater without making any sound.
How it Works
One key innovation was using the salt water to help generate the electrical forces that propel it. The robot is equipped with cables that apply voltage to both the salt water surrounding it and to pouches of water inside of its artificial muscles. The robot's electronics then deliver negative charges in the water just outside of the robot and positive charges inside of the robot which activate the muscles. The electrical charges cause the muscles to bend, generating the robot's undulating swimming motion. The charges are just outside the robot's body and they are safe for nearby marine life.
Previously, other research groups had developed robots with similar technology. But to power these robots, engineers were using materials that need to be held inside a rigid body frame.
Hopes for the Future
The conductive parts of the robot's artificial muscles can be filled with a fluorescent dye. In the future, the dye could be used as some kind of signaling system. Next steps also include improving the robot's reliability and also its geometry. Researchers need to improve its diving ability. The team plans to equip the robot with weights so that it can dive deeper. For now, engineers have improvised the weights with a range of objects, such as magnets. Also in the future, the team wants to build a head for their eel robot that is full of sensors.
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