With the rapid development of robotics swarm technology, there are more tasks that require the swarm to pass through complicated environments safely and efficiently. Virtual tube technology is a novel way to achieve this goal. Virtual tubes are free spaces connecting two places that provide safety boundaries and direction of motion for swarm robotics. How to determine the design quality of a virtual tube is a fundamental problem. For such a purpose, this paper presents a degree of flowability (DOF) for two-dimensional virtual tubes according to a minimum energy principle. After that, methods to calculate DOF are proposed with a feasibility analysis. Simulations of swarm robotics in different kinds of two-dimensional virtual tubes are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method of calculating DOF.

Jumping and hopping locomotion are efficient means of traversing unstructured rugged terrain with the former being the focus of roboticists. This focus has led to significant performance and understanding in jumping robots but with limited practical applications as they require significant time between jumps to store energy, thus relegating jumping to a secondary role in locomotion. Hopping locomotion, however, can preserve and transfer energy to subsequent hops without long energy storage periods. Therefore, hopping has the potential to be far more energy efficient and agile than jumping. However, to date, only a single untethered hopping robot exists with limited payload and hopping heights (< 1 meter). This is due to the added design and control complexity inherent in the requirements to input energy during dynamic locomotion and control the orientation of the system throughout the hopping cycle, resulting in low energy input and control torques; a redevelopment from basic principles is necessary to advance the capabilities of hopping robots. Here we report hopping robot design principles for efficient and robust systems with high energy input and control torques that are validated through analytical, simulation, and experimental results. The resulting robot (MultiMo-MHR) can hop nearly 4 meters (> 6 times the current state-of-the-art); and is only limited by the impact mechanics and not energy input. The results also directly contradict a recent work that concluded hopping with aerodynamic energy input would be less efficient than flight for hops greater than 0.4 meters.

The human brain, fed on just the calorie input of a modest diet, easily outperforms state-of-the-art supercomputers powered by full-scale station energy inputs. The difference stems from the multiple states of brain processes versus the two binary states of digital processors, as well as the ability to store information without power consumption--non-volatile memory. These inefficiencies in today's conventional computers have prompted great interest in developing synthetic synapses for use in computers that can mimic the way the brain works. Now, researchers at King's College London, UK, report in ACS Nano Letters an array of nanorod devices that mimic the brain more closely than ever before. The devices may find applications in artificial neural networks.

The human brain, fed on just the calorie input of a modest diet, easily outperforms state-of-the-art supercomputers powered by full-scale station energy inputs. The difference stems from the multiple states of brain processes versus the two binary states of digital processors, as well as the ability to store information without power consumption--non-volatile memory. These inefficiencies in today's conventional computers have prompted great interest in developing synthetic synapses for use in computers that can mimic the way the brain works. Now, researchers at King's College London, UK, report in ACS Nano Letters an array of nanorod devices that mimic the brain more closely than ever before. The devices may find applications in artificial neural networks.

In a paper in Science Robotics, materials scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering describe a new design for a swimming robot that's both powered and steered by constant light. The device, called OsciBot because it moves by oscillating its tail, could eventually lead to designs for oceangoing robots and autonomous ships. Its design is inspired by a natural phenomenon called phototaxis--movement toward or away from a light source--that is found throughout the animal kingdom. Both jellyfish and moths, for example, are attracted to light. OsciBot demonstrates that moving by oscillation can be directly powered constant light, rather than relying on light energy that has been harvested and stored in a battery.

Powered by a pair of photovoltaic panels and designed to linger in the forest canopy continuously for months, SlothBot moves only when it must to measure environmental changes -- such as weather and chemical factors in the environment -- that can be observed only with a long-term presence. The proof-of-concept hyper-efficient robot, described May 21 at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Montreal, may soon be hanging out among treetop cables in the Atlanta Botanical Garden. "In robotics, it seems we are always pushing for faster, more agile and more extreme robots," said Magnus Egerstedt, the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and principal investigator for Slothbot. "But there are many applications where there is no need to be fast. You just have to be out there persistently over long periods of time, observing what's going on."