Engineers at King's College London have created a novel way to control robots using fluid-based circuits. This innovation could allow robots to perform complex tasks without relying on electricity, freeing up computational space in their 'brains' for more advanced thinking and decision-making.
The research team, led by Dr. Antonio Forte, Senior Lecturer in Engineering at King's College London, has successfully transmitted a series of commands to robotic devices using variations in fluid pressure within a new type of compact circuit. This approach mimics certain aspects of the human body's functionality, where different parts operate independently of a central control system.
The study, published in the journal Advanced Science, demonstrates how this innovative approach could enable the creation of robots capable of operating in environments where traditional electricity-powered devices are impractical or impossible to use. These include irradiated areas like Chernobyl, where radiation can destroy electronic circuits, and electrically sensitive environments such as MRI rooms.
The researchers developed a reconfigurable circuit with an adjustable valve that can be integrated into a robot's hardware. This valve functions similarly to a transistor in a conventional circuit, allowing engineers to send signals directly to the hardware using pressure variations that mimic binary code. As a result, robots can perform complex maneuvers without requiring electricity or instructions from a central processing unit.
As a next step, the researchers plan to scale up their circuits from experimental devices to larger robots, including crawlers used for power plant monitoring, and wheeled robots with entirely soft engines. This progression could lead to a new generation of more adaptable and complex robotic systems across various industries.
While the technology is still in its early stages, it represents a step forward in robotic design and functionality. By offloading computational tasks from software to hardware, this fluid-based control system could pave the way for robots with enhanced cognitive capabilities and greater environmental adaptability.
Innovations like this fluid-based control system highlight the ongoing quest to create machines that can more closely mimic and even surpass human capabilities in complex environments.