Researchers at EPFL have engineered a compact and agile swimming robot, inspired by marine flatworms, capable of navigating cluttered water spaces. Unlike traditional swimming devices that utilize noisy propellers, this innovative robot employs undulating fins for propulsion, minimizing disturbances to aquatic wildlife. At just 6 grams and smaller than a credit card, it is adept at carrying heavy payloads in diverse environments, including rice fields and aquatic inspections. This progress enables efficient environmental monitoring, pollution mapping, and the study of delicate aquatic ecosystems as reported in Science Robotics.
"In 2020, our team demonstrated autonomous insect-scale crawling robots, but making untethered ultra-thin robots for aquatic environments is a whole new challenge," says EPFL Soft Transducers Lab head Herbert Shea. "We had to start from scratch, developing more powerful soft actuators, new undulating locomotion strategies, and compact high-voltage electronics."
Swimming robots play a crucial role in mapping pollution, studying aquatic ecosystems, and monitoring water quality in sensitive areas such as coral reefs or lake shores.
The EPFL robot uses silently undulating fins, inspired by marine flatworms -- for propulsion. This design, combined with its light weight, allows it to float on the water's surface.
Now, researchers in the Soft Transducers Lab at EPFL developed a compact and versatile robot that can maneuver through tight spaces and transport payloads much heavier than itself.
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