Scientists from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausana (EPFL) managed to develop an aquatic robot that at the end of their useful life can be ingested by fish, in the search for alternatives to current environmental monitoring devices, created with plastics and electronic components.
The robot, in the form of a small boat, can move through water through carbon dioxide, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and propylene glycol, all non -toxic and biodegradable materials, with which it was already possible for the device to swim several minutes, an EPFL statement indicated.
“Although the development of miniature swimmers for natural environments has advanced rapidly, they usually depend on plastics, batteries and other electronic components, but with this work we show how they can be replaced by completely biodegradable and edible components,” said the doctorate in the EPFL Shuhang Zhang, one of the robot developers.
“Fish food” in which the robot can become even more nutritious than that marketed in pet stores, containing 30% more protein and 8% less fat.
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Aquatic robot could help scientists analyze marine environments
EPFL is possible that this type of robots occurs in large quantities in order to collect environmental data such as water pH, temperature, pollutants or the presence of microorganisms.
They could also serve to supply nutrients or drugs to fish, and even the possibility of creating artificial pets, although EPFL points out that the experiments are still in initial phases.
The new robot, presented in a study published in the specialized magazine Nature Communications, is another product of the smart systems laboratory, directed by Dario Floreano at the EPFL School of Engineering and which has already previously created other edible devices.
With EFE information
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