Wiesemüller Fabian, Meng Ziwen, Hu Yijie, Farinha Andre, Govdeli Yunus, Nguyen Pham H, Nyström Gustav, Kovač Mirko
Materials and Technology Center of Robotics, Department of Functional Materials, Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Aerial Robotics Laboratory, Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Front Robot AI. 2022 Oct 31;9:1011793. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2022.1011793. eCollection 2022.
Collecting temporal and spatial high-resolution environmental data can guide studies in environmental sciences to gain insights in ecological processes. The utilization of automated robotic systems to collect these types of data can maximize accuracy, resilience, and deployment rate. Furthermore, it reduces the risk to researchers deploying sensors in inaccessible environments and can significantly increase the cost-effectiveness of such studies. The introduction of transient robotic systems featuring embodied environmental sensors pushes towards building a digital ecology, while introducing only minimal disturbance to the environment. Transient robots made from fully biodegradable and non-fossil based materials, do not develop into hazardous e-waste at the end of their lifetime and can thus enable a broader adoption for environmental sensing in the real world. In this work, our approach towards the design of transient robots includes the integration of humidity-responsive materials in a glider, which is inspired by the seed. The design space of these gliders is explored and their behavior studied numerically, which allows us to make predictions on their flight characteristics. Results are validated against experiments, which show two different gliding behaviors, that can help improve the spread of the sensors. By tailoring the Cellulose-Gelatin composition of the humidity actuator, self-folding systems for selective rainwater exposure can be designed. The pH sensing layer, protected by the actuator, provides visual feedback on the pH of the rainwater. The presented methods can guide further concepts developing transient aerial robotic systems for sustainable, environmental monitoring.
收集时空高分辨率环境数据可以指导环境科学研究，以深入了解生态过程。利用自动化机器人系统收集这类数据可以最大限度地提高准确性、恢复能力和部署速度。此外，它降低了研究人员在难以到达的环境中部署传感器的风险，并能显著提高此类研究的成本效益。引入具有嵌入式环境传感器的瞬态机器人系统有助于构建数字生态，同时对环境造成的干扰最小。由完全可生物降解和非化石基材料制成的瞬态机器人在其使用寿命结束时不会变成有害电子垃圾，因此可以在现实世界中更广泛地应用于环境传感。在这项工作中，我们设计瞬态机器人的方法包括在受种子启发的滑翔机中集成湿度响应材料。探索了这些滑翔机的设计空间，并对其行为进行了数值研究，这使我们能够对其飞行特性进行预测。通过实验验证了结果，实验展示了两种不同的滑翔行为，这有助于提高传感器的分布范围。通过调整湿度致动器的纤维素-明胶成分，可以设计出用于选择性雨水暴露的自折叠系统。由致动器保护的pH传感层提供了关于雨水pH值的视觉反馈。所提出的方法可以指导进一步开发用于可持续环境监测的瞬态空中机器人系统的概念。
