WINDS OF CHANGE
WHEN I was little, robots were firmly in the realms of science fiction, but fast forward a few decades and they are becoming part of our everyday lives.
BladeBUG, a clever little robot created by Chris Cieslak, has been designed to help maintain wind turbines out at sea, carrying out tasks and reducing risk for humans. Here, Chris tells us all about his invention.
What is BladeBUG made from?
THE body and legs are made from aluminium metal because it is strong, light and it doesn’t rust. The feet of the robot are suckers made from flexible rubber. These enable it to stick to the surface of the blades.
Covers for the electronics are made from 3D printed plastic nylon.
There are also lots of wires and electronics that are hidden inside the robot, including a small Raspberry Pi computer which is its brain.
How do its feet stick?
AT THE end of each of BladeBUG’s feet are rubber suckers, known as vacuum suction cups, that create an airtight seal on the blade’s surface. We have small vacuum pumps, similar to tiny vacuum cleaners, that suck the air from the feet when they are on the surface of the blade, and this sucks the air out of the vacuum cups and sticks the robot to the surface.
Each vacuum cup, when stuck, can hold 15kg (the robot weighs a maximum of 20kg), so we only need two feet to hold the robot in place.
Using valves controlled by the onboard computer, we can turn the vacuum on and off to release and attach the feet as it walks.
Will BladeBUG live on the turbine all the time?
INITIALLY we expect there will be a few robots per wind farm.
People will move them from turbine to turbine, and control them using a game console control pad to perform tasks.
We are also looking to see if we can fly the robots to the turbines and land on the blades, and fly from turbine to turbine. There could be a small team of robots looking after an entire wind farm of hundreds of turbines.
How did you get into robotics?
I’VE always played with mechanical devices and toys like remote control cars, however, I only built my first robot in 2014, after I decided to develop the BladeBUG robot.
I didn’t know much about robotics and wanted to learn.
My niece loves insects and bugs, so I made her a ladybird robot that would walk and avoid objects for her birthday.
It was a really fun little project and I learned a lot.
How can robots help save our planet?
WE ARE focused on using our robot to increase how much green energy wind turbines can make by ensuring that the turbines are working as efficiently as possible, generating as much carbon-free electricity for the planet as they can.
BladeBUG will also reduce the amount of trips big boats need to make to take people to wind farms, saving lots of fuel.
■ Go to bladebug.co.uk to find out more and see BladeBUG in action.