March 28, 2013Virginia Tech develops a better robotic jellyfish

Researchers at Virginia Tech have created a larger, improved version of their existing RoboJelly robotic jellyfish

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Last year, a team of researchers from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering unveiled RoboJelly – a robotic jellyfish in development since 2009, that’s about the size of a man’s hand. While the squishy little robot is certainly an impressive feat of engineering, the same team has now created a bigger, better jellybot, known as Cyro.

The lion’s mane jellyfish served as the inspiration for the new robot – the monicker “Cyro” comes from that animal’s Latin name, cyanea capillata.

The neutrally-buoyant robot is five feet, seven inches (1.7 meters) wide, and weighs 170 pounds (77 kg). Its rigid inner support structure contains its electronic components, including its rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery. Attached to that structure are eight mechanical arms, each powered by its own direct current electric motor. Working with the surrounding exterior silicone body, the movements of those arms are able to successfully reproduce the swimming motion of the real jellyfish.

Cyro's inner structure, placed on top of a plastic crate

Cyro has been made bigger than RoboJelly not because it’s more impressive, but because it’s more practical. When used to autonomously monitor the marine environment, perform surveillance, map the ocean floor or perform other duties, a bigger robot could hold a larger payload of sensors and processors, go farther, and stay at sea longer – possibly weeks or even months at a time

The differences between the two robots don’t end with their size. While RoboJelly receives its power via a tether, Cyro is completely free-roaming. RoboJelly does incorporate an experimental system in which it’s able to power itself using hydrogen and oxygen extracted from the surrounding water, although there’s reportedly much more work to be done before that technology could be practically integrated into a sea-going robot.

Even Cyro itself isn’t likely to be heading off on any solo ocean voyages any time soon. In fact, a successor is already in the works. It’s hoped that the next robot will consume less power, swim more effectively, and generally be more similar to a real jellyfish. Some of the reasons that jellyfish were chosen as the “template” for the robots include the facts that the animals use very little energy when swimming, they exist in a variety of shapes and sizes, and they function in a wide range of marine and freshwater environments.

Both Cyro and RoboJelly are part of an ongoing project funded by the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research, that also involves research being conducted at Providence College in Rhode Island, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Dallas, and Stanford University. The Virginia Tech team is headed by Prof. Shashank Priya.

Cyro can be seen in action in the video below.

Source: Virginia Tech

弗吉尼亚理工大学研制出了更大更好的机器水母

Virginia技术开发出更好的机器人jellyfish

研究人员在弗吉尼亚理工大学创造了他们现有的RoboJelly机器人水母

图片廊（3图像）

去年，一队较大，改进版研究人员从工程的弗吉尼亚理工大学揭幕RoboJelly - 开发机器人水母自2009年以来，这是关于一个人的手的大小。虽然粘糊糊的小机器人肯定是工程的一个令人印象深刻的壮举，在同一支球队已经创造了一个更大，更好jellybot，被称为西罗

狮鬃水母担任灵感的新的机器人 - 的外号“西罗”的由来从动物的拉丁名，霞capillata

的中性浮力的机器人是五英尺7英寸（1.7米）宽，重170磅（77千克）。其刚性内支承结构包含其的电子元件，包括它的可再充电的镍金属氢化物电池。连接到该结构八个机械臂，每个搭载自己的直流电动机。与周围的外部硅胶体工作，这些武器的动作能够成功地再现真实水母的游泳运动。

西罗的内部结构，放置在塑料箱的顶部

西罗已大于RoboJelly不是因为它是更令人印象深刻，但因为它更实用。当用于自动监测海洋环境，执行侦察，绘制洋底或执行其他职责，一个更大的机器人可容纳传感器和处理器的更大的有效载荷，走的更远，并停留在海上长 - 可能数周甚至数月的时间

两个机器人之间的差异不与它们的大小结束。虽然RoboJelly通过绳索取电，西罗是完全自由漫游。 RoboJelly确实包含一个实验系统中，它能够使用氢和从周围的水中提取氧气本身供电，虽然有报道更多的工作要做之前，这种技术可以切实融入出海机器人。

即便西罗本身不太可能对任何单独的海洋将远赴航程任何时间很快。事实上，继任者已经在工程。它希望下一次机器人将消耗更少的功率，更有效地游泳，并且一般更类似于真正的水母。一些水母被评为“模板”用于机器人的原因包括对动物使用游泳时，它们中的各种形状和尺寸的存在非常少的能量的事实，它们在大范围的海洋和淡水的功能环境

双方西罗和RoboJelly是在普罗维登斯学院在罗得岛州，加州大学洛杉矶分校，正在开展由美国海军水下作战中心和海军研究，还涉及研究办公室资助的正在进行的项目的一部分德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校和斯坦福大学。弗吉尼亚理工大学团队由沙善普里亚教授

能西罗在下面的视频