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Biodegradable bodies for more eco-friendly robots

Biodegradable bodies for more eco-friendly robots

Scientists from the Italian Institute of Technology are developing 'smart materials' that could lead to robots that will decompose like a human body once they've reached the end of their life-span.

STORY: Robots are getting ever more life-like, but underneath their synthetic skin it's a different story. Their insides are still made mostly from metal and plastic - materials that are hard to dispose of. But researchers in Italy are developing 'smart materials' that could allow robots to be built from substances that will biodegrade when they've reached the end of their life-span.

    By merging separate distinct materials at the nano level the scientists are creating new and novel materials that preserve the properties of the individual components, but exhibit characteristics that would not be possible individually.

    "We are infusing any material with nano technology. So what we are doing apart from making these new composite materials - smart materials - we're also using them to change the properties of other materials, other existing materials like paper or cotton or different foams; from synthetic foams like polyurethane or forms of cotton. So like this, in all these existing materials we are giving new properties that these materials don't have so we can open up their application range," explained Athanassia Athanassiou, who leads the Smart Materials Group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa.

    The researchers say their 'smart materials' could eventually replace conventional plastic which is made from petroleum, a fossil fuel, and contributes to climate change. Bioplastics are made from plant material, but are more energy-intensive to produce. Athanassiou's team have developed a way to create bioplastic from food waste, and so hope to mitigate the additional energy required by using resources that would normally go to waste.

    In particular, robotics could be an important application for their research, according to Athanassiou.

    "These biodegradable materials, natural materials, they are very flexible so they can be used for robotic skins. But they can be also very hard so they can be used for internal parts of a robot. And also, in this flexible skin - robotic skin let's say - we can incorporate sensors so they have this tactile sensing that the robots need, but with biodegradable materials," Athanassiou told Reuters.

    Nikos Tsagarakis, lead researcher on a humanoid robot project at the IIT, said that roboticists will have to move on from metal in order to build the next generation of robot.

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    "The main issue is it's actually difficult to see how you can achieve the properties that you want to have; say matching more the properties of the human body. So going to alternative materials would be this advantage - it will help us to make lighter robots, more efficient and, finally, also recyclable," said Tsagarakis, who is developing the Walk-Man humanoid robot to operate human tools and interact with its environment in the same way a person would.

    Robots made from biodegradable material would certainly make them more human-like, and perhaps more easily accepted in the real-world. And if robots are to ever be truly ubiquitous, they also need to be easily disposed of once they reach the end of their useful life-span.

    While Athanassiou believes biodegradable materials are imminent for the skin-like outer layer, she believes eventually the entire robot body could decompose just as if it was flesh and blood.

ROBOT WAR rules

The battle rules:

In each round of the competition, the robots fight in a timed battle. The winner is decided by either a ‘knockout’ or, if there is no clear winner once the time runs out, a panel of three expert judges will agree on a ‘judge’s decision’.

There are three ways to win by a knockout:-

1. Flipping an opponent out of the arena into the surrounding trench.
2. Manoeuvring your opponent into the ‘pit’ hazard inside the arena.
3. Immobilising your opponent for 10 seconds through extensive damage or your opponent breaks down and is therefore not able to continue.

In the event that a battle goes to a judges’ decision, the judges award a win based on the following three criteria:

1. Damage – causing clear damage to an opponent both visually and internally.
2. Aggression – consistently taking the battle to its opponents.
3. Control – demonstrating good driving skills and weapon accuracy throughout the battle.

Each category is scored from one to five and the scores are weighted to reflect their importance as follows: Aggression x3, Damage x2, and Control x1.

This results in an overall score and the robot with the highest overall score wins the battle.

Episodes 1-5: Qualifiers

Eight teams and their robots start the show and they face three battle rounds per show:-

Round 1 – Group Battles

The eight competing robots are split into two groups of four. Each group fight each other at the same time in a three-minute battle. The two winners from each group progress to the next round and the two losers from each group are eliminated from the competition.

Round 2 – Mini League ‘Head to Heads’

The four winning robots from the group battles in Round One all enter the mini league, called The Head to Heads.

Each robot fights all of the other robots once in that league, in a series of three minute-long head to head battles. To ensure fairness, the presenters draw names at random to decide which robot fights first.

A win by knockout scores three points, but if the time runs out and there is no winner it goes to the judges to decide the winner – and that robot scores two points.

The two robots in first and second place in the mini-league go through to the final.

Round Three – Final

The two robots in first and second place (based on total points scored) go head to head in a three minute final battle. The winner of the final goes through to the Grand Final at the end of the series (episode 6).

Episode 6: Grand Final

Six teams and their robots start the show. They comprise the five winners from episodes 1-5 and one runner-up selected by the judges based on the on their merits from their previous episode.

The Grand Finalists face up to three rounds as per episodes 1-5:-

1. Round 1 – Group Battles
2. Round 2 – Mini League ‘Head to Heads’
3. Round 3 – The Final

The winner of round three and the final battle is crowned Robot Wars Champion 2016.