Researchers at the University of Washington have now created MilliMobile , a tiny , self - driving robot power only by surrounding brightness level or radio wave . fit with a solar panel – like energy reaper and four wheels , MilliMobile is about the size of it of a penny , press as much as a raisin , and can move about the length of a motorbus ( 30 feet or 10 time ) in an hour , even on a cloudy twenty-four hour period . The robot can drive on surface such as concrete or packed soil and comport nearly three time its own weight in equipment like a tv camera or sensors . It use a light sensor to move mechanically toward light sources so it can melt down indefinitely on harvest power .
The squad tested MilliMobile , both indoors and outdoors , in environment such as green , an indoor hydroponic farm , and an post . Even in very abject light position — for instance , power only by the lights under a kitchen counter — the robots are still able-bodied to edge along , though much slower . run continuously , even at that pace , open new ability for a swarm of robots deploy in areas where other sensors have worry generating nuanced datum .
“ We assume inspiration from ‘ intermittent computing , ’ which break up complex programs into pocket-size measure , so a gimmick with very limited king can work incrementally , as vigor is usable , ” said co - lead author Kyle Johnson , a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering . “ With MilliMobile , we hold this concept to motion . We reduced the golem ’s size and exercising weight , so it takes only a small amount of energy to move . And , similar to an fauna taking step , our robot moves in distinct increments , using small heartbeat of get-up-and-go to bend its wheels . ”
These robots are also able to manoeuvre themselves , voyage with onboard sensors and tiny computing chips . To demonstrate this , the squad programmed the robots to practice their onboard light sensing element to move towards a promiscuous seed .
Researchers have fit MilliMobile with wakeful , temperature , and humidness sensors as well as with Bluetooth , letting it carry data over 650 feet ( 200 cadence ) . In the futurity , they design to add together other sensors and ameliorate data - sharing among swarms of these robots .
Vicente Arroyos , a UW doctorial educatee in the Allen School , was a co - lead source . Dennis Yin , who completed this work as a UW undergrad in electrical and computer engineering , and Shwetak Patel , a UW professor in the Allen School and in electrical and electronic computer engineering , are co - authors , and Vikram Iyer , a UW assistant professor in the Allen School , is the elderly author . This enquiry was fund by an Amazon Research Award , a Google Research Scholar award , the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program , the National GEM Consortium , the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium , the Pastry - Powered T(o)uring Machine Endowed Fellowship , and the SPEEA ACE fellowship program .
Source : University of Washington
