A robotic fabric that can shrink, increase in size and move precisely has been created, according to a new study published in Nature Communications by scientists at the University of Sheffield, which shows for the first time that elastic connections enable error-prone robotic modules to march in formation, outperforming modules with rigid connections or no connections at all.
The research, led by Dr Roderich Gross from the University's Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, demonstrated for the first time how low-power robotic modules, roughly the size of a 50 pence coin, can be linked together via an elastic mesh and move reliably in the same direction, forming an intelligent robotic structure.
The research paves the way for the development of ultra-low-power robotic fabrics that can navigate spaces inaccessible to humans, such as underground water pipes, to find cracks, or that can shrink and be deployed inside the human body to provide medical services, monitoring or treatment.
The prototype fabric developed in the study is made up of small robotic modules, called Kilobots, which have low power and processing capabilities due to their limited size. Each Kilobot uses a vibration motor to move but cannot precisely control its own direction. When it is part of an elastic mesh, it communicates with other nearby modules so that the group collectively decides how to best move and behave.
Dr Roderich Gross, Senior Lecturer in Robotics and Computational Intelligence at the University of Sheffield, said: "Previous research has looked at smart fabrics that can sense their surroundings or change appearance. This research looks at smart fabrics that move from one place to another. In the long term, autonomous moving, stretchable fabrics could be used in medical applications, for example, to wrap around a damaged part of an organ and then monitor or stimulate it with high spatial resolution."
This means they can deploy themselves without human help, and in the future, such fabrics could be used to efficiently navigate spaces that are inaccessible to humans, such as inspecting the interior of a jet engine.
In this study, the researchers produced a robotic fabric made up of 49 Kilobot modules. Their experiments showed that a single module could not move independently in a straight line. A structure made up of 16 modules could move in a straight line, but only for a short time. The more modules there were in the structure, the more successful it was at moving in a coherent direction.
Further experiments in the study showed that the fabric successfully moved along the desired path (circular), and that the fabric first changed shape to fit into the imagined smaller space and then returned to its original shape. However, when the modules were part of a rigid grid, they were unable to move in a consistent direction.
This is similar to how birds migrate in flocks, with larger numbers of individuals being able to negotiate migration locations more efficiently than smaller numbers, something known as the “principle of multiple mistakes.”
However, unlike previous research on the principle of multi-error, the modules studied by the Sheffield academics do not rely solely on their ability to gather and use information, but rather the physical bonding within the elastic grid helps to negotiate this. This means that the modules rely less on energy-intensive sensing and thinking to operate in a coherent way, facilitating their miniaturization and the realization of structures containing thousands of modules.
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