Gastrobot
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Gastrobot, meaning literally '
stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of Human, humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical t ...
robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
', was a term coined in 1998 by the
University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...
professor, Dr. Stuart Wilkinson, who stated that a gastrobot is "...an intelligent machine (robot) that derives all its
energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
requirements from the digestion of real food." The gastrobot's energy intake may come in the form of
carbohydrates A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ma ...
,
lipids Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins Vitamin A, A, Vitamin D, D, Vitamin E, E and Vitamin K, K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The fu ...
etc., or may be a simpler source, such as
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
. This type of robot ingests food and passes it into a
microbial fuel cell Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a type of bioelectrochemical fuel cell system also known as micro fuel cell that generates electric current by diverting electrons produced from the microbial oxidation of reduced compounds (also known as fuel or ele ...
(MFC), which converts the food into gases and other
potential energy In physics, potential energy is the energy of an object or system due to the body's position relative to other objects, or the configuration of its particles. The energy is equal to the work done against any restoring forces, such as gravity ...
. The gases and liquids help fuel things such as a
hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
, which helps create more energy, and generates other gases that help power the gastrobot's
mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...
.


Application

Gastrobotics could allow users to deploy self-sustaining robots for extended times without human supervision. Common robots of today—powered by solar panels, batteries, or other energy sources—tend to become unreliable without human supervision for battery replacement, etc. Other robots must plug in to recharge, so they require constant access to an electrical outlet, which limits range. Solar powered robots are more independent but need a large surface area of solar panels to be efficient. This adds bulk and depends on weather conditions and clean panels to remain efficient. Gastrobotics might be able to live entirely off available natural resources. The main goal of this new technology is to produce robots that can go on missions where human supervision is not feasible or desirable. Some examples include * Automatic lawn mower powered by grass clippings. * Fruit picking or
soil test A soil test is a laboratory or in-situ analysis to determine the chemical, physical or biological characteristics of a soil. Possibly the most widely conducted soil tests are those performed to estimate the plant-available concentrations of nutri ...
ing robot powered by fallen leaves or fruit * Exploration robots that are powered by their own environment * Sea exploration: seaweed and algae * Forest exploration: grass, fruits and vegetables * Military applications: powered by enemy


Technology

Gastrobotics energy sources mainly focuses on the use of a microbial fuel cell. Microbial fuel cells require an oxidation reduction reaction to generate electricity. A microbial fuel cell uses bacteria, which must be fed. The fuel cell typically contains two compartments, the
anode An anode usually is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, which is usually an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the devic ...
and
cathode A cathode is the electrode from which a conventional current leaves a polarized electrical device such as a lead-acid battery. This definition can be recalled by using the mnemonic ''CCD'' for ''Cathode Current Departs''. Conventional curren ...
terminals which are separated by an
ion-exchange membrane An ion-exchange membrane is a semi-permeable membrane that transports certain dissolved ions, while blocking other ions or neutral molecules. Ion-exchange membranes are therefore electrically conductive. They are often used in desalination and ...
. First, in the anode chamber, the bacteria remove electrons from the organic material and pass the electrons to a carbon electrode. The electrons then move through the ion-exchange membrane to the cathode chamber, where they combine with protons and oxygen to form water. The electrons flowing from the anode into the cathode terminals generate electrical current and voltage. From this point, research is exploring using a hydrogen fuel cell to amplify the energy from the microbial fuel cell. The hydrogen fuel cell would use microbial fuel cell byproducts to create more energy without having to consume more material. Gastrobot requirements include: * Harvesting: Must be able to gather food from real world settings and include some sort of arm or other mechanism that grabs food for consumption. * Mastication: It needs some type of mouth to "chew" or break down food into smaller pieces for the system. * Ingestion: An "
esophagus The esophagus (American English), oesophagus (British English), or œsophagus (Œ, archaic spelling) (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, see spelling difference) all ; : ((o)e)(œ)sophagi or ((o)e)(œ)sophaguses), c ...
" must move food from the "mouth" to the microbial fuel cell. * Digestion: The microbial fuel cell "
stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of Human, humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical t ...
" must produce energy. * Defecation: The gastrobot must remove waste to avoid it building up.


Fuel

The best fuel source for a gastrobot is anything high in carbohydrates. Vegetables, fruit, grains, insects, and foliage are good candidates. However, it can also consume organic waste products such as urine, anaerobic sludge (biodegradable waste and sewage), and landfill
leachate A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material through which it has passed. Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences wh ...
. Meat can be a fuel, but contains too much fat to be efficient.


Benefits

The future of gastrobotics has many potential benefits to society. * Robot independence: A successful gastrobot would not require human supervision to carry out tasks. Independence could improve efficiency by freeing humans to work on other tasks. * Eco-friendly fuel source: The gastrobot, by breaking down food, potentially runs on a completely green fuel source. After the food breaks down into energy, what is left is and (water and oxygen). This type of energy source might let robots function without adding to pollution.


Challenges

The gastrobot is in its early development stages, and so faces many challenges: * Efficiency: The current prototype is inefficient. It takes about 18 hours of "carbo-loading" for about 15 minutes of movement. This is useless in any real world application. * Foraging: Development must make the gastrobot able to locate, identify, and acquire food. * Intelligence: Gastrobots require more processing power and sophisticated software to function efficiently in many real world applications. They must be able to locate, identify and acquire food with potential for consumption. They must also be able to identify and adapt to new environments while following instructions for their mission. * Maneuverability: The current prototype has very little maneuverability. For the robot to move around, it must also be able to grab, harvest, and move potential fuel sources. Furthermore, the robot must regulate the amount of food it eats at a time—like an electronic appetite. If the robot consumes too much organic material it may overload and clog. Furthermore, it must know when to search for food. As robots become more independent they must be more compliant. If a robot is out on a "mission" it must be sensitive to others around it instead of having a "complete task at all costs" mentality.


See also

*
Digesting Duck The , or Digesting Duck, was an automaton in the form of a duck, created by Jacques de Vaucanson and unveiled on 30 May 1764 in France. The mechanical duck appeared to have the ability to eat kernels of grain, and to metabolize and defecate them ...
,
Vaucanson Jacques de Vaucanson (; February 24, 1709 – November 21, 1782) was a French inventor and artist who built the first all-metal lathe. This invention was crucial for the Industrial Revolution. The lathe is known as the mother of machine tools, a ...
's fabricated 18th century forerunner. * Bender – a cartoon robot from the year 3000 that 'lives' on common alcohol. *
Doraemon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...
– an anime robot from the 22nd century that consumes on dorayaki. * The film ''Runaway'' – features a robot that eats
slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...
s.


References


External links


The Gastrobots Official Website
* {{usurped,
The Gastrobotics Institute at the University of South Florida
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An Article on Gastrobots
.PDF (258 KB) Ecological robots