According to a paper published by the journal Science Advances, the 5.3 gram (0.18 oz) robot detected and quantified ammonium, chloride and particles of the Sars-CoV-2 virus within simulated pipes during testing.
The researchers said monitoring of confined spaces such as pipes could improve public health, but was often limited to manual sampling at outlets, making it hard to “trace the specific origin of contamination”.
The paper’s lead author, Li Dengfeng from the City University of Hong Kong, said the robot could be adapted to monitor different molecules, including heavy metals, biological particles, and nuclear contaminants.
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While small, mobile robots were already able to perform tasks in narrow spaces that humans could not, most “are extremely lacking in detection capabilities”, Li said.
According to Li, in their quest to develop a robot with both movement and detection abilities that could also work in water, the researchers set out to design a robot that swam “like a dolphin”.
The resulting device “enhances the efficacy and flexibility of mobile electronic monitoring systems … without compromising performance in narrow confined spaces”, the paper said.
Propulsion for the robot’s “tail” is provided by an electromagnetic actuation system which controls magnets that cause the robot to oscillate in the water and “swim”.
Electrode sensors on the device can be designed to detect different molecules based on public health needs, which “could help prevent diet-related diseases and viral infections”.
To keep the robot as light as possible, the researchers chose to forgo batteries as a power source, opting instead to use radio frequency, harvesting energy from electromagnetic fields emitted by an outside coil.
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An antenna and power receiving module is all the device needs to charge while it continues to monitor its environment. With every component designed to act wirelessly, the robot can also work in closed-loop environments like circular pipes, without getting tangled in cables.
While the researchers have integrated detection and movement capabilities, there are still limitations to the robot’s design, according to the paper.
Using radio frequency energy limits the robot’s working distance, while data transmission to a smartphone relies on near-field communication. Bluetooth would expand transmission range but requires more power than the system can provide.
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According to Li, the recommended maximum distance to use the robot while ensuring high swimming speeds is 4cm (2in). The transfer of data from robot to smartphone can occur up to 10cm away.
“Such a distance is sufficient for applications in pipelines, daily waters, even in the human body, but not sufficient for applications in deep sea or remote waters,” he said.
But he added that the team was demonstrating “general technology” and integrating aspects of their system – like the pathogen or ion sensing modules – into existing underwater robots could “easily” lead to underwater devices for deep water detection.
“Expanding the sensing capabilities will be key to enabling this monitoring platform to operate in more application scenarios,” the researchers wrote.
The device could even be adapted for use in the human body, such as monitoring gastric acids inside the stomach or performing electrical stimulation therapy, the paper said.
