Robot moth grows new sensor using its own blood
Robot moth grows new sensor using its own blood
Engineers at the University of Tartu and the Italian Institute of Technology developed a moth-shaped robot that can grow new sensors by pumping pyrrole-containing fluid through its 3D-printed body and exposing specific areas to ultraviolet light, which converts the plastic into conductive polypyrrole. The prototype demonstrated sensor growth after UV exposure, with sensitivity increasing over repeated exposures, though it remains limited by non-reversible reactions, external power requirements for wing actuation, and stencil-defined patterning rather than autonomous environmental response.
Source: New Atlas — Robotics · Read original article ↗
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What the source reports
Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.
Reported numbers
artificial blood volume
≈3
View original evidence
hes about 3 ml (0.1 fl oz) of liquid through them, and some of it seeps about a hundredth of a millimeter into the surrounding plastic. That liquid carries pyrrole, a chemical that turns into an electrically conductive plastic called polypyrrole when it's hit by UV light, with help from a light-activated additive. Using a stencil, the team picked which patch of the wing to light up, and that patch turned black. Veins
Open source S5settling time
≈5 minutes
View original evidence
ps for a moment, and a small onboard chip responds by blinking an LED or flapping the wings. The sensor still worked after four months in storage, and it grew more sensitive with every exposure as leftover pyrrole went on reacting, although it takes about five minutes to settle back after each flash of UV. Still, the robo-moth is just a prototype, and it comes with a set of limitations that keep it far from the real
Open source S7storage duration
4
View original evidence
ps for a moment, and a small onboard chip responds by blinking an LED or flapping the wings. The sensor still worked after four months in storage, and it grew more sensitive with every exposure as leftover pyrrole went on reacting, although it takes about five minutes to settle back after each flash of UV. Still, the robo-moth is just a prototype, and it comes with a set of limitations that keep it far from the real
Open source S7liquid volume
0.1
View original evidence
hes about 3 ml (0.1 fl oz) of liquid through them, and some of it seeps about a hundredth of a millimeter into the surrounding plastic. That liquid carries pyrrole, a chemical that turns into an electrically conductive plastic called polypyrrole when it's hit by UV light, with help from a light-activated additive. Using a stencil, the team picked which patch of the wing to light up, and that patch turned black. Veins
Open source S5
- paper: not_reported
- code: not_reported
- weights: not_reported
- dataset: not_reported
Source excerpts and review record
Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
hes about 3 ml (0.1 fl oz) of liquid through them, and some of it seeps about a hundredth of a millimeter into the surrounding plastic. That liquid carries pyrrole, a chemical that turns into an electrically conductive plastic called polypyrrole when it's hit by UV light, with help from a light-activated additive. Using a stencil, the team picked which patch of the wing to light up, and that patch turned black. Veins
Open source S5
ps for a moment, and a small onboard chip responds by blinking an LED or flapping the wings. The sensor still worked after four months in storage, and it grew more sensitive with every exposure as leftover pyrrole went on reacting, although it takes about five minutes to settle back after each flash of UV. Still, the robo-moth is just a prototype, and it comes with a set of limitations that keep it far from the real
Open source S7
with several material systems as the state-of-the-art setup." You can watch the robot's circulatory system at work, and see it flap its wings in response to UV light, in videos released by the team. Source: Estonian Research Council via EurekAlert
Open source S12
Source：New Atlas — Robotics · newatlas.com