Sub-millilitre microbial fuel cell power for soft robots

Philamore, Hemma; Rossiter, Jonathan; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

Conventional rigid-body robots operate using actuators which differ markedly from the compliant, muscular bodies of biological organisms that generate their energy through organic metabolism. We consider an 'artificial stomach' comprised of a single microbial fuel cell (MFC), converting organic detritus to electricity, used to drive an electroactive artificial muscle. This bridges the crucial gap between a bio-inspired energy source and a bio-inspired actuator. We demonstrate how a sub-mL MFC can charge two 1F capacitors, which are then controllably discharged into an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) artificial muscle, producing highly energetic oscillation over multiple actuation cycles. This combined bio-inspired power and actuation system demonstrates the potential to develop a soft, mobile, energetically autonomous robotic organism. In contrast to prior research, here we show energy autonomy without expensive voltage amplification. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Living Machines 2013.
• Start Date: Sep 23, 2013
• End Date: Aug 2, 2013
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Aug 31, 2013
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 20, 2020
• Publisher: Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Volume: 8064
• Pages: 424-426
• Series Title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Book Title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• ISBN: 9783642398018
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39802-5_55
• Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, artificial muscle, energetic autonomy
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6834885