The robots are inspired by marine flatworms.
Compact and Agile for Tight Spaces
The swimming robot is compact and able to manoeuvre through tight spaces. It can also transport payloads heavier than itself.
The device is smaller than a credit card and weighs six grams, making it ideal for spaces like rice fields or performing inspections in waterborne machines.
“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.”
EPFL’s Swimming Robot Has Advanced Propulsion and Motion Capabilities
EPFL’s swimming robot uses silently undulating fins for propulsion. This design allows the robot to float on the water’s surface and blend into the environment.
“Our design doesn’t simply replicate nature; it goes beyond what natural organisms can achieve,” explains former EPFL researcher Florian Hartmann, now a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany.
By oscillating its fins up to 10 times faster than marine flatworms, the swimming robot can reach impressive speeds of 12 centimeters (2.6 body-lengths) per second.
High-Efficiency Electronic Control System
To drive the robot, the researchers developed a compact electronic control system that delivers up to 500 volts to the robot’s actuators at a low power of 500 milliwatts – four times less than that of an electric toothbrush.
Despite its use of high voltage, the robot’s low currents and shielded circuitry make it entirely safe for its environment. Light sensors act as simple eyes, allowing the swimming robot to detect and follow light sources autonomously.
