Cornell University’s researchers recently unveiled a couple of revolutionary bio-inspired robots running on a hydraulic fluid battery. This pioneering Redox Flow Battery (RFB) echoes biological functions, discharging electrolytic fluids that react chemically to generate energy.
The preliminary showcase features two robots—a modular worm and a jellyfish—engineered by the labs at Cornell Engineering. These extraordinary robots utilize “embodied energy,” an ingenuous approach integrating power sources within the machine’s body, thus dwindling its weight and cost.
Describing the distinctive technology, Professor Rob Shepherd from Mechanical and Aerospace engineering, stated that they are the first team to use hydraulic fluid as the robot’s battery. This ingenious dual-purpose battery offers not only energy but also powers the force required for the robot’s movement.
Besides enhancing speed and movement, this exciting battery technology also boosted the robot jellyfish’s operational time to a prolonged 90 minutes. Built upon the same technology originally used for a lionfish-inspired robot, the circulating fluid referred to as “robot blood” effectively makes the battery a ‘robot heart.’
The worm robot, made up of modular segments akin to larger snake robots, utilizes a motor and a tendon actuator within each segment to produce motion.
Transitioning from underwater to land posed unique challenges, the key one being that underwater robots don’t need a rigid skeletal structure. Shedding light on this, Shepherd states, “This is how life on land evolved. From the fish, you get a simple organism that is supported by the ground.”
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