Saturday, April 13, 2013

The robot jellyfish grew to the size of the person


    Engineers and scientists from Virginia Tech College of Engineering presented the independent robot jellyfish which is surprisingly similar on the live prototype. the surprising car has the size and weight of the adult: 1,6 m in length and weight are 77 kg.
   The prototype of the big robot jellyfish was called by Cyro – in honor of a similar live jellyfish of cyanea capillata. Cyro is larger option of the quite famous RoboJelly robot jellyfish, the size approximately about a palm. Both robots are the joint projects of several universities financed by Naval Forces of the USA.
   The bigger Cyro size means big range of swimming, big payload and increased reliability. In the long term similar robots will be able to patrol the ocean in an autonomous mode, to carry out monitoring of environment and to be engaged in mapping of a seabed and oceanic currents.
Unlike small RoboJelly, Cyro eats not through a wire, and from nickel - metal - gidridnogo the accumulator. Now experiments on a robot food by hydrogen but while in this direction it is necessary to break many technological barriers are made. Nevertheless, hydrogen is very perspective power source for Cyro as the ocean is in fact an infinite source of this type of fuel.
   In any case, the robot jellyfish will have to have autonomy in some months. Meanwhile the robot jellyfish to the ocean don't release, but it successfully works at shoal and almost ideally imitates movement and appearance of a live jellyfish.
Cyro design as a whole is similar to RoboJelly. The robot has the rigid internal framework equipped with electric motors which squeeze and straighten "hood" from soft silicone. The Cyro robot is surprisingly similar to the living being therefore some biologists even had fears that on the robot predators can attack. For example some turtles eat jellyfishes and can confuse the robot with the living being.

No comments:

Post a Comment