U.S. R&D Bionic Jellyfish Robot

Recently, the United States has developed a bionic jellyfish robot that can go deep into the ocean to perform tasks such as monitoring the marine environment, conducting aquatic biology research, and drawing maps on the sea floor.

This robot, code-named “Cyro”, is a team of Xiao Shenke Puglia of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. It is about 5.58 feet in length and weighs 170 pounds. Its specific imitation target is Cyanoea, which originated from Cyanea and the word robot. (Robot) The combination of the first two letters.

The robot jellyfish research team once demonstrated a type of robotic jellyfish in size in 2012. This time, it shows that the robot has a larger body. Researchers with similar adult research teams say that larger volumes can carry more loads, run longer, and travel farther. The results of biological and engineering studies show that larger volumes can reduce transportation costs.

Both robots are based on a cross-university-wide project funded by the US Navy's Underwater Warfare Center and the Naval Research Agency. The goal is to study water-independent/autonomous machinery for environmental monitoring and monitoring. It can also be used for other purposes, such as research on aquatic organisms, submarine mapping and ocean current monitoring.

Puglia said that the selection of jellyfish as a bionic object was due to the research funded by the U.S. Navy Underwater Operations Center and the U.S. Naval Research Office. He hoped to develop a robot with low energy consumption and can operate automatically under water. It is used to perform tasks such as monitoring the marine environment, conducting aquatic biology research, and drawing maps on the sea floor.

Jellyfish are the best imitators of this robot. They are widely distributed in the world's oceans and are one of the lowest in the ocean. At the same time, their appearance and size vary greatly, allowing engineers to design jellyfish robots for different purposes.

So, how does this robot move in water? Researchers said that there is a bowl-shaped rigid support inside. A DC motor is mounted on the rigid support, which can control the regular swinging of the artificial silica gel layer wrapped on the rigid support to generate power. "Cyro's movements are very similar to real jellyfish," said Puglia.

In addition, the DC motor and information processing system inside the robot are driven by a nickel hydrogen battery mounted on a rigid support. Puglia stated that at present, Cyro can collect, analyze, process, and transmit the sensed data information. This is a great step forward in achieving its goal of monitoring the situation in the shallow seas.

However, according to design requirements, the robot must be able to run automatically for months or longer, and engineers cannot repair or replace the battery during this period. Therefore, researchers are trying to replace nickel-metal hydride batteries with hydrogen fuel cells.

It was also learned that in 2012, the team had developed a robot prototype of this kind - a hand-size jellyfish robot, code-named "RoboJelly". "Because large robots mean greater payloads and longer voyages," said team member and doctoral student Alex Villanueva. "In addition, biological and engineering experiments show that large robots Energy efficiency is also higher, so we developed the larger Cyro."

However, these two jellyfish robots are currently used only for research and testing and cannot be put into practical operation within a few years. "Our current goal is that Cyro can help us understand the movement mechanism of aquatic organisms of comparable size," said Villanueva.

Villanueva said that the school’s scientific team is still developing another jellyfish robot. "We will continue to improve the new robot, reduce its energy consumption, improve its power system, control system, and will also make it look more like a real jellyfish."