Electric eels hunt in dark, murky water by generating electric fields around their bodies. Now, Chinese scientists have simulated this natural radar, giving amazing results Robots The ability to “feel” things without physical contact.
“We want the machine to sense an approaching target — and characterize its physical and surface state — before any physical contact,” Zhang Weiqiang, a professor at Xidian University, said in a video interview last week.
Their work was published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Materials.
The team was inspired by Eel locator system. The hunter generates an electric field around himself and reads distortions in this field caused by nearby objects. Researchers have borrowed the same logic – building a field, detecting disturbances, and extracting information.
The sensor is made of a specially processed fluoropolymer that acts like a small stationary battery. Once charged, it maintains its charge for a long time, creating Static electric field Around him – like an invisible spider web.
“When an object approaches, the sensor picks up changes in the field and from those changes, it can infer the object’s electrical conductivity, dielectric properties and geometry,” Zhang said.
