Robotics has been able to develop a fairly large number of models for use in the environment. So we will show you some of these models.
Fish-robots
Some years ago, a special fish appeared in the London Aquarium. It was about the realization of this impressive idea, which built a fish-robot to patrol the seas and monitor the levels of marine pollution. Scientists will be able to locate the contaminated areas and take the necessary measures to clean them up. The robotic fish, which did not dive into the seas, imitate in a perfectly natural way the wave-like movement of the real fish. In addition, they are fully equipped with ultraviolet sensors to avoid collisions, pressure sensors, to measure depth and gyroscopes, so they can balance. Until now, there are 18 generations of robotic fish. The ones belonging to the latter are the most sophisticated: they are made of carbon fiber; they are 1.5 meters long and are fully equipped with pollution monitors.
The first chameleon robot
Famous scientists managed to build a robot that ran out of conventional logic and structure in the robot construction. It was a small flexible – “soft” robot – a robot capable of crawling on the ground and then reopening. The applications of these robots are many. They could, for example, help in major disasters. After an earthquake, “soft robots” will be able to detect survivors as they break through all the debris. The research team, however, did not stop thinking about how to develop its robot. As they said they were inspired by the way camouflaged octopuses, squid and cuttlefish gave them the inspiration and wanted to add that ability to the robot. The robot is made of silicon polymers. The researchers added an extra layer and this layer can accept high or low temperature fluids that diffuse across the surface of the robot through the grooves, thus allowing it to develop the ability of the so-called “thermal camouflage”. These liquids can of course be dyes in the ambient colors of the robot to camouflage. It can also instead of paint camouflage to use some liquid that will make it flash to be visible in dark conditions. If, for example, the robot is on an exploration or rescue mission, the phosphorescent paint will be extremely useful to make it easy to locate. At present, the dye is supplied externally with the robot pumping it from the container in which it is located. But researchers say robot adaptations are going on and in the next robot model the dyes will be incorporated into the body so it can only camouflage or flash itself.
A robot bee
A team ofengineers built a “smart” bee-bot, which can be used for both monitoring and agricultural applications. This new bee robot recently is the result of nearly twelve-year studies. The high tech bee is slightly less than the one-cent coin, and can fly normally just like bees in nature.
Robobee brings together a mechanically distinctive peak simulating both the flying and bee behavior. Only instead of collecting pollen from the blooming flowers, it collects information which it then transfers to a central electronic system that processes them. The bee-robot looks like real bees. It has knuckles and antennae just like the yellow-black insects.
The construction of the bee-robot is not only aimed at demonstrating yet another example of a successful imitation of nature from science. Robobee is a serious engineering proposition that can provide a significant “helping hand” in many areas of social and economic life. It can be used as an auxiliary tracking system to facilitate police operations for tracking, or rescuing. It can also be used for agricultural or even environmental purposes. It can be the cornerstone of a further agricultural development. These types of commercial robots can lead us to really useful results about the potentials of each area and the prospective if we decide to invest on it.
However, scientists continue to work on this mini-robotic insect in order to improve its flight, to increase the duration of flights it can make but also to evolve the power supply system, perhaps through an autonomous battery.
