Lifelike robots that can learn, adapt may be a reality soon

London, Aug. 24: Lifelike robots that can make decisions, adapt to their environment and learn, are one step closer to becoming reality, new research suggests.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have demonstrated a new way of embedding computation into soft robotic materials.

This advance could create new robotic possibilities to environmental monitoring, pollution clean-up, drug delivery, prosthetic devices, wearable biosensing and selfhealing composites.

One example is their concept for an entirely soft, autonomous geckoshaped robot with an integrated soft matter computer control.

The concept of soft matter computers (SMCs) takes inspiration from biology.

It aims to mimic the workings of the vascular system, where hormones such as adrenaline are released into the bloodstream and disperse throughout the body.

Responses in particular parts of the body are triggered when the hormones are detected by a receptor.

Researchers from Bristol's faculty of engineering demonstrated a new mechanism that enabled computation to be embedded into three soft robots.

In the study, they describe how a conductive fluid receptor (CFR) is a viable and fundamental building block for a range of SMCs and next-generation robots.

The soft matter computers could mirror this process by translating information within the structure of a fluidic tape that travels through the soft body of the robot, and then is detected by an appropriate receptor which generates an output. Professor of Robotics Jonathan Rossiter said: “We have taken an important step toward entirely soft, autonomous robots and for smart materials to move beyond stimulusresponse relationships which could enable the intelligent behaviours seen in living organisms.

“Soft robots could become even more lifelike; capable of independently adapting to their environment and can demonstrate the diversity of behaviours seen in the natural world.”

The full findings were published in the journal Science Robotics.

There are a number of piratical applications for soft robots.

Scientists from Florida Atlantic University have built robot jellyfish that could one day be used to track and monitor fragile marine ecosystems. The soft robots can swim through openings narrower than their bodies and are powered by hydraulic silicon tentacles.

Several of the bots have already been tested squeezing through holes cut into a plexiglass plate.

In future, these so-called “jellybots” could be sent into delicate environments, such as coral reefs, without risking collision and damage.