Zhang Shuhang, Kwak Bokeon, Zhu Ruihao, Pankhurst Markéta, Zhang Lu, Boom Remko M, Floreano Dario
Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, STI-IGM-LIS, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Food Process Engineering, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Nat Commun. 2025 May 7;16(1):4238. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59559-8.
Centimeter-scale aquatic robots could be used in environmental monitoring, exploration, and intervention in aquatic environments. However, existing robots rely on artificial polymers and commercial electronic components, which can pollute and disrupt sensitive ecological environments if they are not retrieved. To address these challenges, we describe a fully biodegradable and fully edible self-propelled device that leverages the Marangoni effect for autonomous propulsion. The body of the edible aquatic robot is made of freeze-dried fish food and is powered by a water-triggered pneumatic reaction that produces motion by sustained release of a surfactant that is safe for aquatic fauna. The device's biodegradable and non-toxic composition allows for safe environmental deployment for environmental sensing, delivery of nutrition or medication in aquatic environments. The proposed method substantially expands the potential benefits of small-scale aquatic robots that could be deployed on a large scale without the need to retrieve them and even provide nutrition to wildlife at the end of their lifetime as animals do.
厘米级水生机器人可用于水生环境的环境监测、探索和干预。然而，现有的机器人依赖人工聚合物和商业电子元件，如果不回收，可能会污染和破坏敏感的生态环境。为应对这些挑战，我们描述了一种完全可生物降解且完全可食用的自推进装置，该装置利用马兰戈尼效应实现自主推进。这种可食用水生机器人的主体由冻干鱼食制成，由水触发的气动反应提供动力，通过持续释放对水生动物安全的表面活性剂产生运动。该装置的可生物降解和无毒成分允许在环境中安全部署，用于水生环境中的环境传感、营养或药物输送。所提出的方法极大地扩展了小型水生机器人的潜在益处，这些机器人可以大规模部署而无需回收，甚至在其使用寿命结束时像动物一样为野生动物提供营养。
