December 30, 2014Sea turtle robot charges its own batteries

Bhuneshwar Prasad (left), Associate Professor S.K. Panda and Abhra Roy Chowdhury, holding the turtle robot at right (Photo: National University of Singapore)

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They may be slow on land, but when they're in the water, sea turtles are fast and maneuverable – qualities that are also desirable in underwater robots. Additionally, the robotic equivalent of a turtle's streamlined shell could be stuffed full of electronic components and batteries. It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, that both ETH Zurich and the ARROWS project have recently created their own turtle-bots. Now, the National University of Singapore has announced its own entry in the field, that can self-charge its batteries while at sea.

The turtle robot is being developed by a team led by Prof. S.K. Panda, which has previously created robotic fishes of various types.

Like a real turtle, it swims and executes sharp high-speed turns using selective paddling motions of its front and rear flippers. This form of locomotion also allows it to dive and ascend without taking on or releasing ballast. Because it doesn't require ballast tanks or pumps, it's subsequently smaller, lighter and more energy-efficient than it would be otherwise. That lack of a ballast system could alternately allow it to take on larger payloads than comparably-sized robots.

In order not to limit the duration of its missions to one charge of its battery pack, the robot is capable of recharging that pack by surfacing and utilizing integrated solar panels. The researchers tell us that it might also be able to generate battery-charging electricity by settling in one spot on the sea floor, then harnessing the power of underwater currents.

Such a system is already used by a spherical robot previously developed by the team – that robot sits in place as the passing water spins a set of built-in rotor blades, which are in turn attached to a dynamo-type generator.

Panda has suggested that applications for the turtle robot could include things like surveillance, detection of hazardous waste, and water quality monitoring. It could operate autonomously on solo missions, although it's also possible that schools of the robots could communicate with one another while collaborating on larger tasks.

Source: National University of Singapore

海龟机器人可自行充电

12月30日，2014Sea龟机器人收取自己的batteries

Bhuneshwar普拉萨德（左），副教授SK熊猫和Abhra罗伊·乔杜里，抱着乌龟机器人右侧（照片：新加坡国立大学）

图片廊（2??图像）

他们可能会很慢在陆地上，但是当他们在水，海龟是快速和可操作性 - 素质，也是可取的水下机器人。此外，乌龟的流线型外壳的机器人相当于可以塞得满满的电子元器件和电池。它不应该作为一个惊喜，因此，这两个苏黎世联邦理工学院和ARROWS项目最近已经建立了自己的龟机器人。现在，新加坡国立大学已宣布在该领域有自己的条目，可以自行充电的电池，而在海上。

乌龟机器人是由领导的SK教授团队开发熊猫，它以前创建各种类型的机器人才对。

像一个真正的乌龟，它游和执行急剧高速转弯使用它的前部和后部的鳍状肢的选择性划桨动作。这种形式的运动也使得它能够潜水和提升，而不承担或释放压舱物。因为它不需要压载舱或泵，它的随后更小，更轻，更节能的那将是比否则。这种缺乏一个压载系统可以交替地允许其采取更大的有效载荷比同等尺寸的机器人。

为了不限制其任务的持续时间，以一个电荷其电池组，该机器人能够充电的该包通过堆焊和??利用集成的太阳能电池板。研究人员告诉我们，它也可能能够通过在海底沉降在一个地方，然后利用水下电流的功率，以产生电池充电电力。

这样的系统已经使用以前由开发出一种球形机器人团队 - 即机器人坐在地方作为通水旋转的一组内置的转子叶片，它们又连接到一个发电机型发电机

熊猫建议，为龟机器人应用可以包括诸如监视，检测危险废物和水质监测。它可以在单人任务自主运作，虽然它也有可能是机器人的学校可同时合作开发更大的任务相互通信

来源：新加坡国立大学