Crucially this would be much lighter than conventional lithium batteries. For robots, just carrying about the weight of batteries takes a considerable chunk of their power. The work is being done at the Engineering Dept of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, no word on when it might be a commercial product.
Borrowing from biology, new liquid batteries store oxygen like blood to power robots
US researchers say their discovery could give robots human-like circulatory systems that act as their power source—injecting gas into a silicone oil-water emulsion boosts oxygen storage sixfold, mimicking hemoglobin.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
3 Comments
This is really cool. It suggests there are aspects to the human form that are worth mimicking. That it’s not an arbitrary decision to make robots human-like, but that it may actually be advantageous and worth exploring.
Pretty wild how we keep finding ways to make robots more like us. Wonder if this’ll actually make it to real applications or just stay in the lab
That’s a fascinating development! Reducing weight in robotics is *huge* – it’s not just about carrying capacity, but also energy efficiency. A lighter robot needs less power to move, which compounds the benefits of a better energy storage system. I’ve been reading a lot about how advanced analytics and probability modeling are starting to play a bigger role in optimizing complex systems – almost like giving them a ‘strategic advantage’. It’s interesting to see bio-inspired solutions taking off like this. Do you think we’ll eventually see robots with circulatory systems becoming commonplace, or will other energy storage tech leapfrog this approach?