H2020 SOMIRO Project: Soft Milli-robots
- Type Project
- Status Firmado
- Execution 2021 -2024
- Assigned Budget 2.992.200,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto SOMIRO
The world's first self-swimming millirobot may be tiny (less than 1 cm long), but it's expected to have a major impact on robotics and precision agriculture. First, it will be powered solely by ambient light. Furthermore, the millirobot (which resembles a flatworm in the ocean) can be programmed to continuously monitor both indoors and outdoors. Developed by the EU-funded SOMIRO project, the millirobot will be tested and optimized. Coordinated by Uppsala University's Microsystems Technology Division, the project has mobilized nine partners, from academia and industry, from six European countries. The industrial partners will utilize cutting-edge assembly technologies that enable scaling up production volumes.
During the first 18 months, work on the robot's overall architecture and design was combined with studies on the eight key fundamental technologies needed to achieve SOMIRO's goal, as well as fundamental locomotion studies. The focus in design and implementation was on the larger G1 swimming robot. Due to a global shortage of semiconductor components, the robot required larger components and a microcontroller with volatile memory.
The robot was designed to operate at a duty cycle of up to 0.2 times solar intensity. All components have already been delivered, and manufacturing is planned for August 2022. In developing critical components for G1, a high-throughput batch production process was implemented for the propulsion unit, and swimming was demonstrated with an attached component. Regarding energy harvesting, a small four-cell solar panel showed a high capacity of 4.5 V and 12 mW at 0.25 times solar intensity. On-site demonstration sites were studied, and it was decided that the demonstration would be conducted at the facilities of The Circle, an aquaponics company.
When studying environmental conditions, the most suitable spots in the basins had solar intensity that never exceeded 0.5 suns and, more frequently, 0.2 suns. In parallel, the fully miniaturized and autonomous G2 milli-robot continued to be developed. Thin-film sensors operating at room temperature meet end-user requirements within the established energy budget. Regarding communication, both uplink and downlink were developed. In particular, a novel communication technique using high-efficiency solar cells was developed. Based on the G1 printed circuit board (PCB) design, a rigid-flex G2 printed circuit board (PCB) with a first set of components was fabricated and tested.
Precision agriculture for rice cultivation and smart methods like aquaponics are vital to ensuring a secure supply of fresh food in Europe while simultaneously reducing our environmental footprint. In line with the "Digitizing European Industry" initiative's description of smart agriculture, the SOMIRO project will develop a millimeter-scale swimming robot inspired by the flatworm, with a one-month energy autonomy, local intelligence, and the ability to continuously generate data and communicate optically to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture in terms of carbon footprint, overfertilization, pesticide use, and overfeeding.
Swimming robots would cover a much larger area than stationary systems and could be rapidly deployed and redeployed where most needed. They could serve as a standalone monitoring solution for indoor agriculture or complement drone remote sensing in outdoor scenarios. To date, no power-autonomous (untethered and locally intelligent) millirobot capable of operating continuously for hours has been demonstrated.
The main reason is energy constraints: locomotion requires a lot of energy, and small robots have very limited energy storage and harvesting capabilities. Our milli-robot will measure less than 1 cm long and will demonstrate how soft, elastic systems, with undulating swimming motion similar to that of flatworms, require much less energy for locomotion than other systems of comparable size. It will not rely on any specific infrastructure for power, but solely on ambient light.
SOMIRO's design focuses on industrial transfer: industrial partners will utilize cutting-edge assembly technologies that allow for scaling production volumes without modifying the process. The bulk materials are low-cost elastomers and polymers, and the electronic circuits will be based on commercially available components. Throughout the project, all application scenarios and operational plans will be developed in close collaboration between SOMIRO's partner companies, end users, and external industrial stakeholders.
SOMIRO: Precision agriculture for rice cultivation and smart methods like aquaponics are vital to ensuring a secure supply of fresh food for Europe while also reducing our environmental footprint. In line with the Digitalizing European Industry initiative under its smart agriculture umbrella, the SOMIRO project will develop a mm-scale swimming robot inspired by a flatworm with a month-long energy autonomy, local intelligence, and the ability to continuously generate data and communicate optically to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture in terms of carbon footprint, overfertilization, pesticide use, and overfeeding.
Swimming robots would cover a much larger area than stationary systems and could be quickly deployed and redeployed where most needed. They can serve as an independent monitoring solution for indoor crops or complement drone-based remote sensing in outdoor scenarios. To date, no energetically autonomous (untethered and locally intelligent) milli-robot capable of operating for hours continuously has been demonstrated. The main reason for this is energy constraints: locomotion requires a lot of energy, and small robots have very limited energy storage and harvesting. Our milli-robot will measure less than 1 cm long and demonstrate how soft, elastic systems, with undulating swimming like flatworms, require much less energy for locomotion than other comparably sized systems. For energy, it will not rely on any dedicated infrastructure, but only on ambient light.
SOMIRO's design focuses on industrial transfer: industrial partners will utilize cutting-edge assembly technologies that can scale up to production volumes without process changes. The bulk materials are low-cost elastomers and polymers, and the electronic circuits will be based on commercially available components. Throughout the project, all application scenarios and operational plans will be developed in close collaboration between SOMIRO's partner companies and end-users and external industrial stakeholders.
Advances beyond the state of the art have been made in the following:
- New communication technology for solar cells.
- New high-performance 4-cell solar module.
- New ultra-low power chemical sensor.
- New miniaturized swim fin actuator unit.
- The expected results are that we will provide energy-efficient locomotion and the physical intelligence of a swimming soft milli-robot, achieving a power autonomy of one month.
- The robot will have ultra-low-power sensing, local computing, and reliable wireless communication within the milli-robot size constraint.
- The milli-robot will show improved gait performance over the current state of the art.
- In addition, automated manufacturing, through assembly and packaging, of integrated soft milli-robots will be demonstrated.
- UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (UU)
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