Jeong Seong-Geun, Kim Jingyeong, Son Huiseong, Kim Jae Seong, Kim Ji-Hyun, Kim Byung-Gee, Lee Chang-Soo
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea; Bio-MAX Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea.
J Hazard Mater. 2024 Nov 5;479:135641. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135641. Epub 2024 Aug 23.
Developing countries struggle with water quality management owing to poor infrastructure, limited expertise, and financial constraints. Traditional water testing, relying on periodic site visits and manual sampling, is impractical for continuous wide-area monitoring and fails to detect sudden heavy metal contamination. To address this, plant-inspired robots capable of fully autonomous water quality monitoring are proposed. Constructed from paper, the robot absorbs surrounding water through its roots. This paper robot is controlled by paper-based microfluidic logic that sends absorbed water to petal-shaped actuators only when the water is polluted by heavy metals. This triggers the actuators to swell and bend like a blooming flower, visually signaling contamination to local residents. In tests with copper-contaminated water, the robotic flower's diameter increased from 4.69 cm to 14.89 cm, a more than threefold expansion (217.25 %). This significant blooming movement serves as a highly visible and easily recognizable indicator of water pollution, even for the public. Furthermore, the paper robot can be mass-produced at a low cost (∼$0.2 per unit) and deployed over large areas. Once installed, the paper robot operates autonomously using surrounding water as a power source, eliminating the need for external electrical infrastructure and expert intervention. Therefore, this autonomous robot offers a new approach to water quality monitoring suitable for resource-limited environments, such as Sub-Saharan Africa.
由于基础设施薄弱、专业知识有限和资金限制，发展中国家在水质管理方面面临困难。传统的水质检测依赖定期实地考察和人工采样，对于持续的大面积监测不切实际，并且无法检测到突然的重金属污染。为了解决这一问题，人们提出了受植物启发的能够进行完全自主水质监测的机器人。这种机器人由纸张制成，通过其根部吸收周围的水。这种纸质机器人由基于纸张的微流体逻辑控制，只有当水被重金属污染时，才会将吸收的水输送到花瓣状的致动器。这会触发致动器像盛开的花朵一样膨胀和弯曲，向当地居民直观地发出污染信号。在对受铜污染的水进行的测试中，机器人花朵的直径从4.69厘米增加到14.89厘米，扩大了三倍多（217.25%）。这种明显的盛开动作即使对公众来说，也是水污染的一个非常明显且易于识别的指标。此外，这种纸质机器人可以低成本大规模生产（约每单位0.2美元）并大面积部署。一旦安装，纸质机器人利用周围的水作为电源自主运行，无需外部电力基础设施和专家干预。因此，这种自主机器人为水质监测提供了一种新方法，适用于资源有限的环境，如撒哈拉以南非洲地区。
