 "Photo: courtesy of Mikhail Kozlov")
UTD’s NanoTech Institute lends muscle to info-hungry robotic jellyfish as part of a U.S. Navy-funded project.
The idea is to create a network of artificial jellyfish that traverse oceans across the globe, collecting data and communicating their findings for research, said Ray Baughman, Director of the UTD NanoTech Institute.
The robot is modeled after a jellyfish because nature’s creations are efficient, said Mikhail Kozlov, NanoTech Institute research scientist.
Carter Haines, physics junior and a student worker on the project, said the jellyfish’s body has a low heat signature, which is helpful for military reconnaissance.
“Carter Haines is very active in this program. He’s been doing beautiful things,” Baughman said. “He’s a hero of nanotech because of his contributions.”
The jellyfish project is a five-year collaborative effort involving UTD, Virginia Tech, Stanford University, Providence College and University of California. It is funded through the Office of Naval Research and the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program.
The UTD NanoTech Institute is tasked with creating artificial muscles, communication devices and a method of energy storage for the robotic jellyfish.
Creating efficient and natural muscles for the jellyfish is a daunting task, Kozlov said.
Using a concept created by Baughman, Haines and NanoTech graduate student worker David Novitski developed an artificial muscle prototype using a special fuel compound instead of electricity.
The muscles are formed from a shape memory alloy wire which expands and contracts in response to certain levels of heat, Kozlov said. These wires are coated with platinum particles which act as a catalyst for the hydrogen and oxygen fuel mixture. When the fuel is released onto the muscle, it heats up, causing it to flex.
Haines said good progress has been made on the muscles since the project’s beginning in May 2008. Recently, the biggest challenge has been making them practical. Before, the Institute had only been able to apply the fuel to the muscles by hand, which wasn’t very realistic, Haines said.
Hydrogen is incredibly efficient in its purest form, Haines said. Unfortunately, the gas must be heavily compressed to serve its purpose in this project, reducing the hydrogen’s effectiveness greatly. The team has overcome this by fine-tuning a fuel delivery system which can flex the muscles over 50,000 times, Haines said.
To solve the issue of jellyfish communication, Haines presented an intricate sound projector prototype constructed from carbon nanotubes. Sounds from a metallic sheet, hardly visible to the naked eye, reverberated throughout the room as Haines played notes on a connected electric piano. These speakers are so small they can be embedded into TV or computer screens for a sleek setup, Kozlov said.
Another challenge for the team is making the jellyfish autonomous, Baughman said.
“It can’t go and recharge its battery. It’s very far somewhere in the ocean in a very remote place,” Kozlov said. “So they wanted this robot to harvest energy from its environments and then use this energy efficiently.”
Haines said work is being done to create a special membrane which will harvest energy from water currents in the ocean. Someday similar technology and concepts might be used to create super-human robots or suits.
“They’re coming. People are working on them, but one of the most important things that needs to be solved is how to make them run on energy. They need to be portable,” Haines said. “What good is a robot if it has to stay plugged in to a wall with a long extension cord?”
Be the first to comment on this article!