New Breakthrough Helps Free Up Space for Robots To “Think”
King’s College London researchers have created a pressure-based, electricity-free robotic control system that enables advanced AI and autonomous functioning, paving the way for versatile, adaptive robots suitable for low-power and specialized environments.
Engineers have developed a method to give robots complex instructions without using electricity, potentially freeing up more space in the robotic ‘brain’ for them to ‘think’.
Mimicking how some parts of the human body work, researchers from King’s College London have transmitted a series of commands to devices with a new kind of compact circuit, using variations in pressure from a fluid inside it.
They say this world first opens up the possibility of a new generation of robots, whose bodies could operate independently of their built-in control center, with this space potentially being used instead for more complex AI-powered software.
“Delegating tasks to different parts of the body frees up computational space for robots to ‘think,’ allowing future generations of robots to be more aware of their social context or even more dexterous. This opens the door for a new kind of robotics in places like social care and manufacturing,” said Dr Antonio Forte, Senior Lecturer in Engineering at King’s College London and senior author of the study.
The findings, published in Advanced Science could also enable the creation of robots able to operate in situations where electricity-powered devices cannot work, such as exploration in irradiated areas like Chernobyl which destroy circuits, and in electric-sensitive environments like MRI rooms.
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