Here today, gone tomorrow: Biodegradable soft robots

Rossiter, Jonathan; Winfield, Jonathan; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

© 2016 SPIE. One of the greatest challenges to modern technologies is what to do with them when they go irreparably wrong or come to the end of their productive lives. The convention, since the development of modern civilisation, is to discard a broken item and then procure a new one. In the 20th century enlightened environmentalists campaigned for recycling and reuse (R and R). R and R has continued to be an important part of new technology development, but there is still a huge problem of non-recyclable materials being dumped into landfill and being discarded in the environment. The challenge is even greater for robotics, a field which will impact on all aspects of our lives, where discards include motors, rigid elements and toxic power supplies and batteries. One novel solution is the biodegradable robot, an active physical machine that is composed of biodegradable materials and which degrades to nothing when released into the environment. In this paper we examine the potential and realities of biodegradable robotics, consider novel solutions to core components such as sensors, actuators and energy scavenging, and give examples of biodegradable robotics fabricated from everyday, and not so common, biodegradable electroactive materials. The realisation of truly biodegradable robots also brings entirely new deployment, exploration and bio-remediation capabilities: why track and recover a few large non-biodegradable robots when you could speculatively release millions of biodegradable robots instead? We will consider some of these exciting developments and explore the future of this new field.

Citation

Rossiter, J., Winfield, J., & Ieropoulos, I. (2016). Here today, gone tomorrow: Biodegradable soft robots. Proceedings of SPIE, 9798, 97981S. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2220611

• Journal Article Type: Conference Paper
• Conference Name: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring
• Conference Location: Las Vegas, Nevada (USA)
• Start Date: Mar 20, 2016
• End Date: Mar 24, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Nov 30, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Journal: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
• Print ISSN: 0277-786X
• Electronic ISSN: 1996-756X
• Publisher: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9798
• Pages: 97981S
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2220611
• Keywords: biodegradable robotics, biodegradable electroactive polymers, soft robotics, bio-remediation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/912786
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2220611
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Copyright 2016 Society of Photo Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.; Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : SPIE Smart Structures and Materials+ Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring