WEBVTT

00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.176
Hi, I'm an engineer

00:00:25.200 --> 00:00:27.176
and I make robots.

00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:30.696
Now, of course you all know
what a robot is, right?

00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:32.896
If you don't, you'd probably go to Google,

00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:34.776
and you'd ask Google what a robot is.

00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:36.040
So let's do that.

00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:39.416
We'll go to Google
and this is what we get.

00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:42.616
Now, you can see here there are
lots of different types of robots,

00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:46.376
but they're predominantly
humanoid in structure.

00:00:46.400 --> 00:00:48.056
And they look pretty conventional

00:00:48.080 --> 00:00:50.536
because they've got plastic,
they've got metal,

00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:52.856
they've got motors and gears and so on.

00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.496
Some of them look quite friendly,

00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:56.576
and you could go up
and you could hug them.

00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:58.016
Some of them not so friendly,

00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:00.496
they look like they're
straight out of "Terminator,"

00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.056
in fact they may well be
straight out of "Terminator."

00:01:03.080 --> 00:01:05.816
You can do lots of really cool
things with these robots --

00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:07.456
you can do really exciting stuff.

00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.416
But I'd like to look
at different kinds of robots --

00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:12.416
I want to make different kinds of robots.

00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:15.856
And I take inspiration
from the things that don't look like us,

00:01:15.880 --> 00:01:17.280
but look like these.

00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:20.296
So these are natural biological organisms

00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:22.896
and they do some
really cool things that we can't,

00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.416
and current robots can't either.

00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:29.216
They do all sorts of great things
like moving around on the floor;

00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:31.496
they go into our gardens
and they eat our crops;

00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:32.776
they climb trees;

00:01:32.800 --> 00:01:35.016
they go in water, they come out of water;

00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.616
they trap insects and digest them.

00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:39.456
So they do really interesting things.

00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.856
They live, they breathe, they die,

00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:44.696
they eat things from the environment.

00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:47.296
Our current robots don't really do that.

00:01:47.320 --> 00:01:48.536
Now, wouldn't it be great

00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:52.216
if you could use some of those
characteristics in future robots

00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:54.936
so that you could solve
some really interesting problems?

00:01:54.960 --> 00:01:58.016
I'm going to look at a couple of problems
now in the environment

00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.776
where we can use
the skills and the technologies

00:02:00.800 --> 00:02:02.816
derived from these animals

00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:04.376
and from the plants,

00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.496
and we can use them
to solve those problems.

00:02:06.520 --> 00:02:08.880
Let's have a look
at two environmental problems.

00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:11.015
They're both of our making --

00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.496
this is man interacting
with the environment

00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:15.896
and doing some rather unpleasant things.

00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:19.560
The first one is to do
with the pressure of population.

00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.496
Such is the pressure
of population around the world

00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:26.656
that agriculture and farming is required
to produce more and more crops.

00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:27.896
Now, to do that,

00:02:27.920 --> 00:02:30.296
farmers put more and more
chemicals onto the land.

00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:33.456
They put on fertilizers,
nitrates, pesticides --

00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:36.856
all sorts of things
that encourage the growth of the crops,

00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:39.016
but there are some negative impacts.

00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:42.496
One of the negative impacts is
if you put lots of fertilizer on the land,

00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.936
not all of it goes into the crops.

00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.536
Lots of it stays in the soil,

00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.016
and then when it rains,

00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:51.536
these chemicals go into the water table.

00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:52.816
And in the water table,

00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.336
then they go into streams,
into lakes, into rivers

00:02:56.360 --> 00:02:57.560
and into the sea.

00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:00.656
Now, if you put all
of these chemicals, these nitrates,

00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:02.296
into those kinds of environments,

00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:06.096
there are organisms in those environments
that will be affected by that --

00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:07.736
algae, for example.

00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:10.296
Algae loves nitrates, it loves fertilizer,

00:03:10.320 --> 00:03:12.416
so it will take in all these chemicals,

00:03:12.440 --> 00:03:15.376
and if the conditions are right,
it will mass produce.

00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.656
It will produce masses
and masses of new algae.

00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:19.216
That's called a bloom.

00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.416
The trouble is that
when algae reproduces like this,

00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:24.680
it starves the water of oxygen.

00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:26.376
As soon as you do that,

00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.320
the other organisms
in the water can't survive.

00:03:29.720 --> 00:03:31.736
So, what do we do?

00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:35.776
We try to produce a robot
that will eat the algae,

00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:37.649
consume it and make it safe.

00:03:37.673 --> 00:03:39.379
Now, this is such a big problem

00:03:39.403 --> 00:03:41.236
that, you can see in the slide here,

00:03:41.260 --> 00:03:44.244
there's an algal bloom
off the coast of Cornwall,

00:03:44.268 --> 00:03:45.435
in 1999.

00:03:45.459 --> 00:03:47.525
It was 50 kilometers in length.

00:03:47.633 --> 00:03:48.895
This is a massive problem

00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:52.356
that is going to have an impact
on fisheries, shellfish and so on.

00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:53.740
So that's the first problem.

00:03:54.300 --> 00:03:56.796
The second problem is also of our making,

00:03:56.820 --> 00:03:58.700
and it's to do with oil pollution.

00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:02.876
Now, oil comes out
of the engines that we use,

00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:04.236
the boats that we use.

00:04:04.260 --> 00:04:07.316
Sometimes tankers
flush their oil tanks into the sea,

00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:09.596
so oil is released into the sea that way.

00:04:09.872 --> 00:04:12.467
Also, there are some
disasters that occur --

00:04:12.491 --> 00:04:15.157
pipeline disasters, oil field disasters.

00:04:15.459 --> 00:04:19.736
And here is the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill from 2010.

00:04:19.856 --> 00:04:23.705
And from the satellite image,
you can see a massive oil spill.

00:04:23.864 --> 00:04:27.379
That has a devastating impact
on the environment,

00:04:27.403 --> 00:04:30.760
on the birds, on the fish,
and on the coastline.

00:04:31.370 --> 00:04:33.946
Wouldn't it be nice
if we could treat that in some way

00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:38.690
using robots that could eat the pollution
the oil fields have produced?

00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:40.866
So that's what we do.

00:04:40.890 --> 00:04:43.490
We make robots that will eat pollution.

00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:45.306
To actually make the robot,

00:04:45.330 --> 00:04:47.530
we take inspiration from two organisms.

00:04:48.370 --> 00:04:50.506
On the right there
you see the basking shark.

00:04:50.530 --> 00:04:53.066
The basking shark is a massive shark.

00:04:53.090 --> 00:04:55.666
It's noncarnivorous,
so you can swim with it,

00:04:55.690 --> 00:04:57.146
as you can see.

00:04:57.170 --> 00:04:59.026
And the basking shark opens its mouth,

00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:01.890
and it swims through the water,
collecting plankton.

00:05:02.970 --> 00:05:05.186
As it does that, it digests the food,

00:05:05.210 --> 00:05:08.730
and then it uses that energy
in its body to keep moving.

00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:11.346
So, could we make a robot like that --

00:05:11.370 --> 00:05:13.906
like the basking shark
that chugs through the water

00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:15.290
and eats up pollution?

00:05:16.250 --> 00:05:17.986
Well, let's see if we can do that.

00:05:18.010 --> 00:05:21.066
But also, we take the inspiration
from other organisms.

00:05:21.090 --> 00:05:23.146
I've got a picture here
of a water boatman,

00:05:23.170 --> 00:05:24.986
and the water boatman is really cute.

00:05:25.010 --> 00:05:26.586
When it's swimming in the water,

00:05:26.610 --> 00:05:29.090
it uses its paddle-like legs
to push itself forward.

00:05:29.690 --> 00:05:31.706
So we take those two organisms

00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:34.730
and we combine them together
to make a new kind of robot.

00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:38.586
In fact, because we're using
the water boatman as inspiration,

00:05:38.610 --> 00:05:41.386
and our robot sits on top of the water,

00:05:41.410 --> 00:05:42.666
and it rows,

00:05:42.690 --> 00:05:44.906
we call it the "Row-bot."

00:05:44.930 --> 00:05:48.786
So a Row-bot is a robot that rows.

00:05:48.810 --> 00:05:51.506
OK. So what does it look like?

00:05:51.530 --> 00:05:53.266
Here's some pictures of the Row-bot,

00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:54.506
and you'll see,

00:05:54.530 --> 00:05:57.866
it doesn't look anything like the robots
we saw right at the beginning.

00:05:57.890 --> 00:06:00.026
Google is wrong;
robots don't look like that,

00:06:00.050 --> 00:06:01.266
they look like this.

00:06:01.290 --> 00:06:03.066
So I've got the Row-bot here.

00:06:03.090 --> 00:06:04.506
I'll just hold it up for you.

00:06:04.530 --> 00:06:06.186
It gives you a sense of the scale,

00:06:06.210 --> 00:06:08.346
and it doesn't look
anything like the others.

00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:09.986
OK, so it's made out of plastic,

00:06:10.010 --> 00:06:12.066
and we'll have a look now
at the components

00:06:12.090 --> 00:06:13.406
that make up the Row-bot --

00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:14.811
what makes it really special.

00:06:15.850 --> 00:06:18.666
The Row-bot is made up of three parts,

00:06:18.690 --> 00:06:21.986
and those three parts are really
like the parts of any organism.

00:06:22.010 --> 00:06:23.666
It's got a brain,

00:06:23.690 --> 00:06:25.066
it's got a body

00:06:25.090 --> 00:06:27.386
and it's got a stomach.

00:06:27.410 --> 00:06:29.826
It needs the stomach to create the energy.

00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:32.066
Any Row-bot will have
those three components,

00:06:32.090 --> 00:06:34.466
and any organism
will have those three components,

00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:36.386
so let's go through them one at a time.

00:06:36.410 --> 00:06:37.666
It has a body,

00:06:37.690 --> 00:06:39.466
and its body is made out of plastic,

00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:41.706
and it sits on top of the water.

00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:44.666
And it's got flippers on the side here --

00:06:44.690 --> 00:06:46.186
paddles that help it move,

00:06:46.210 --> 00:06:47.570
just like the water boatman.

00:06:48.290 --> 00:06:49.626
It's got a plastic body,

00:06:49.650 --> 00:06:52.506
but it's got a soft rubber mouth here,

00:06:52.530 --> 00:06:54.435
and a mouth here -- it's got two mouths.

00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:55.866
Why does it have two mouths?

00:06:55.890 --> 00:06:57.706
One is to let the food go in

00:06:57.730 --> 00:06:59.666
and the other is to let the food go out.

00:06:59.690 --> 00:07:03.186
So you can see really
it's got a mouth and a derriere,

00:07:03.210 --> 00:07:04.426
or a --

00:07:04.450 --> 00:07:05.466
(Laughter)

00:07:05.490 --> 00:07:07.226
something where the stuff comes out,

00:07:07.250 --> 00:07:08.946
which is just like a real organism.

00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:11.786
So it's starting to look
like that basking shark.

00:07:11.810 --> 00:07:13.186
So that's the body.

00:07:13.210 --> 00:07:16.346
The second component might be the stomach.

00:07:16.370 --> 00:07:20.266
We need to get the energy into the robot
and we need to treat the pollution,

00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:21.826
so the pollution goes in,

00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:23.346
and it will do something.

00:07:23.370 --> 00:07:26.946
It's got a cell in the middle here
called a microbial fuel cell.

00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.730
I'll put this down,
and I'll lift up the fuel cell.

00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:32.146
Here. So instead of having batteries,

00:07:32.170 --> 00:07:34.346
instead of having
a conventional power system,

00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:35.626
it's got one of these.

00:07:35.650 --> 00:07:36.906
This is its stomach.

00:07:36.930 --> 00:07:38.186
And it really is a stomach

00:07:38.210 --> 00:07:41.626
because you can put energy in this side
in the form of pollution,

00:07:41.650 --> 00:07:43.306
and it creates electricity.

00:07:43.330 --> 00:07:44.546
So what is it?

00:07:44.570 --> 00:07:46.226
It's called a microbial fuel cell.

00:07:46.250 --> 00:07:48.346
It's a little bit
like a chemical fuel cell,

00:07:48.370 --> 00:07:50.386
which you might have
come across in school,

00:07:50.410 --> 00:07:52.026
or you might've seen in the news.

00:07:52.050 --> 00:07:54.186
Chemical fuel cells
take hydrogen and oxygen,

00:07:54.210 --> 00:07:57.026
and they can combine them together
and you get electricity.

00:07:57.050 --> 00:08:00.466
That's well-established technology;
it was in the Apollo space missions.

00:08:00.490 --> 00:08:01.970
That's from 40, 50 years ago.

00:08:02.530 --> 00:08:03.786
This is slightly newer.

00:08:03.810 --> 00:08:05.266
This is a microbial fuel cell.

00:08:05.290 --> 00:08:06.546
It's the same principle:

00:08:06.570 --> 00:08:07.986
it's got oxygen on one side,

00:08:08.010 --> 00:08:10.106
but instead of having
hydrogen on the other,

00:08:10.130 --> 00:08:11.426
it's got some soup,

00:08:11.450 --> 00:08:14.266
and inside that soup
there are living microbes.

00:08:14.290 --> 00:08:16.986
Now, if you take some organic material --

00:08:17.010 --> 00:08:19.346
could be some waste products, some food,

00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:20.866
maybe a bit of your sandwich --

00:08:20.890 --> 00:08:23.706
you put it in there,
the microbes will eat that food,

00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:25.610
and they will turn it into electricity.

00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:29.986
Not only that, but if you select
the right kind of microbes,

00:08:30.010 --> 00:08:33.770
you can use the microbial fuel cell
to treat some of the pollution.

00:08:34.490 --> 00:08:36.106
If you choose the right microbes,

00:08:36.130 --> 00:08:38.746
the microbes will eat the algae.

00:08:38.770 --> 00:08:41.106
If you use other kinds of microbes,

00:08:41.130 --> 00:08:44.650
they will eat petroleum
spirits and crude oil.

00:08:45.050 --> 00:08:47.746
So you can see
how this stomach could be used

00:08:47.770 --> 00:08:51.026
to not only treat the pollution

00:08:51.050 --> 00:08:53.850
but also to generate electricity
from the pollution.

00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:57.266
So the robot will move
through the environment,

00:08:57.290 --> 00:08:59.386
taking food into its stomach,

00:08:59.410 --> 00:09:01.906
digest the food, create electricity,

00:09:01.930 --> 00:09:04.426
use that electricity
to move through the environment

00:09:04.450 --> 00:09:05.666
and keep doing this.

00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:09.226
OK, so let's see what happens
when we run the Row-bot --

00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:10.626
when it does some rowing.

00:09:10.650 --> 00:09:12.306
Here we've got a couple of videos,

00:09:12.330 --> 00:09:14.986
the first thing you'll see --
hopefully you can see here

00:09:15.010 --> 00:09:16.306
is the mouth open.

00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:19.346
The front mouth and the bottom mouth open,

00:09:19.370 --> 00:09:20.906
and it will stay opened enough,

00:09:20.930 --> 00:09:22.946
then the robot will start to row forward.

00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:24.226
It moves through the water

00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:27.346
so that food goes in
as the waste products go out.

00:09:27.370 --> 00:09:28.626
Once it's moved enough,

00:09:28.650 --> 00:09:31.586
it stops and then it closes the mouth --

00:09:31.610 --> 00:09:34.026
slowly closes the mouths --

00:09:34.050 --> 00:09:35.706
and then it will sit there,

00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:37.370
and it will digest the food.

00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:40.786
Of course these microbial fuel cells,

00:09:40.810 --> 00:09:42.066
they contain microbes.

00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:43.946
What you really want is lots of energy

00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:46.586
coming out of those microbes
as quickly as possible.

00:09:46.610 --> 00:09:48.186
But we can't force the microbes

00:09:48.210 --> 00:09:51.226
and they generate a small amount
of electricity per second.

00:09:51.250 --> 00:09:54.506
They generate milliwatts, or microwatts.

00:09:54.530 --> 00:09:56.386
Let's put that into context.

00:09:56.410 --> 00:09:57.946
Your mobile phone for example,

00:09:57.970 --> 00:09:59.346
one of these modern ones,

00:09:59.370 --> 00:10:01.586
if you use it, it takes about one watt.

00:10:01.610 --> 00:10:05.426
So that's a thousand or a million times
as much energy that that uses

00:10:05.450 --> 00:10:07.410
compared to the microbial fuel cell.

00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:09.666
How can we cope with that?

00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:12.546
Well, when the Row-bot
has done its digestion,

00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:14.026
when it's taken the food in,

00:10:14.050 --> 00:10:17.586
it will sit there and it will wait
until it has consumed all that food.

00:10:17.610 --> 00:10:20.826
That could take some hours,
it could take some days.

00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:24.546
A typical cycle for the Row-bot
looks like this:

00:10:24.570 --> 00:10:25.826
you open your mouth,

00:10:25.850 --> 00:10:27.106
you move,

00:10:27.130 --> 00:10:28.386
you close your mouth

00:10:28.410 --> 00:10:30.266
and you sit there for a while waiting.

00:10:30.290 --> 00:10:31.666
Once you digest your food,

00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:34.506
then you can go about
doing the same thing again.

00:10:34.530 --> 00:10:37.506
But you know what, that looks
like a real organism, doesn't it?

00:10:37.530 --> 00:10:39.386
It looks like the kind of thing we do.

00:10:39.410 --> 00:10:41.466
Saturday night,
we go out, open our mouths,

00:10:41.490 --> 00:10:43.026
fill our stomachs,

00:10:43.050 --> 00:10:45.986
sit in front of the telly and digest.

00:10:46.010 --> 00:10:48.386
When we've had enough,
we do the same thing again.

00:10:48.410 --> 00:10:51.266
OK, if we're lucky with this cycle,

00:10:51.290 --> 00:10:54.826
at the end of the cycle
we'll have enough energy left over

00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:56.986
for us to be able to do something else.

00:10:57.010 --> 00:10:59.026
We could send a message, for example.

00:10:59.050 --> 00:11:00.546
We could send a message saying,

00:11:00.570 --> 00:11:02.906
"This is how much pollution
I've eaten recently,"

00:11:02.930 --> 00:11:05.506
or, "This is the kind of stuff
that I've encountered,"

00:11:05.530 --> 00:11:07.210
or, "This is where I am."

00:11:07.890 --> 00:11:11.146
That ability to send a message
saying, "This is where I am,"

00:11:11.170 --> 00:11:13.106
is really, really important.

00:11:13.130 --> 00:11:15.626
If you think about the oil slicks
that we saw before,

00:11:15.650 --> 00:11:17.106
or those massive algal blooms,

00:11:17.130 --> 00:11:19.826
what you really want to do
is put your Row-bot out there,

00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:21.826
and it eats up all of those pollutions,

00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:24.026
and then you have to go collect them.

00:11:24.050 --> 00:11:25.266
Why?

00:11:25.290 --> 00:11:27.106
Because these Row-bots at the moment,

00:11:27.130 --> 00:11:28.466
this Row-bot I've got here,

00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:30.346
it contains motors, it contains wires,

00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:33.826
it contains components
which themselves are not biodegradable.

00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:36.586
Current Row-bots contain
things like toxic batteries.

00:11:36.610 --> 00:11:38.586
You can't leave those in the environment,

00:11:38.610 --> 00:11:40.106
so you need to track them,

00:11:40.130 --> 00:11:42.466
and then when they've finished
their job of work,

00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:43.746
you need to collect them.

00:11:43.770 --> 00:11:46.106
That limits the number
of Row-bots you can use.

00:11:46.130 --> 00:11:47.386
If, on the other hand,

00:11:47.410 --> 00:11:50.546
you have robot a little bit
like a biological organism,

00:11:50.570 --> 00:11:52.666
when it comes to the end of its life,

00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.146
it dies and it degrades to nothing.

00:11:55.170 --> 00:11:57.506
So wouldn't it be nice if these robots,

00:11:57.530 --> 00:11:59.769
instead of being like this,
made out of plastic,

00:11:59.793 --> 00:12:01.386
were made out of other materials,

00:12:01.410 --> 00:12:03.146
which when you throw them out there,

00:12:03.170 --> 00:12:04.506
they biodegrade to nothing?

00:12:04.530 --> 00:12:06.626
That changes the way
in which we use robots.

00:12:06.650 --> 00:12:10.026
Instead of putting 10 or 100
out into the environment,

00:12:10.050 --> 00:12:11.306
having to track them,

00:12:11.330 --> 00:12:12.666
and then when they die,

00:12:12.690 --> 00:12:13.906
collect them,

00:12:13.930 --> 00:12:15.626
you could put a thousand,

00:12:15.650 --> 00:12:18.386
a million, a billion robots
into the environment.

00:12:18.410 --> 00:12:20.226
Just spread them around.

00:12:20.250 --> 00:12:23.870
You know that at the end of their lives,
they're going to degrade to nothing.

00:12:23.894 --> 00:12:25.586
You don't need to worry about them.

00:12:25.610 --> 00:12:28.226
So that changes the way
in which you think about robots

00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:29.626
and the way you deploy them.

00:12:29.650 --> 00:12:31.506
Then the question is: Can you do this?

00:12:31.530 --> 00:12:33.706
Well, yes, we have shown
that you can do this.

00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:35.826
You can make robots
which are biodegradable.

00:12:35.850 --> 00:12:38.706
What's really interesting
is you can use household materials

00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:40.426
to make these biodegradable robots.

00:12:40.450 --> 00:12:43.026
I'll show you some;
you might be surprised.

00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:46.646
You can make a robot out of jelly.

00:12:46.670 --> 00:12:49.446
Instead of having a motor,
which we have at the moment,

00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:51.926
you can make things
called artificial muscles.

00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:54.246
Artificial muscles are smart materials,

00:12:54.270 --> 00:12:55.726
you apply electricity to them,

00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:57.926
and they contract,
or they bend or they twist.

00:12:57.950 --> 00:13:00.166
They look like real muscles.

00:13:00.190 --> 00:13:03.190
So instead of having a motor,
you have these artificial muscles.

00:13:03.214 --> 00:13:06.046
And you can make
artificial muscles out of jelly.

00:13:06.070 --> 00:13:08.006
If you take some jelly and some salts,

00:13:08.030 --> 00:13:09.606
and do a bit of jiggery-pokery,

00:13:09.630 --> 00:13:11.423
you can make an artificial muscle.

00:13:11.447 --> 00:13:14.066
You can do the same thing
with natural rubber, latex.

00:13:14.741 --> 00:13:17.352
So you could make a robot
out of a balloon.

00:13:17.376 --> 00:13:19.773
You can make a robot
out of a rubber glove.

00:13:19.797 --> 00:13:21.995
You can even make a robot out of paper.

00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:25.114
You can make actuators,
that is, things that move,

00:13:25.138 --> 00:13:27.266
with electricity, out of paper.

00:13:27.290 --> 00:13:30.866
We've also shown you can make
the microbial fuel cell's stomach

00:13:30.890 --> 00:13:32.306
out of paper.

00:13:32.330 --> 00:13:35.810
So you could make the whole
robot out of biodegradable materials.

00:13:36.130 --> 00:13:39.010
You throw them out there,
and they degrade to nothing.

00:13:40.250 --> 00:13:42.106
Well, this is really, really exciting.

00:13:42.130 --> 00:13:45.321
It's going to totally change the way
in which we think about robots,

00:13:45.345 --> 00:13:47.586
but also it allows you
to be really creative

00:13:47.610 --> 00:13:50.946
in the way in which you think
about what you can do with these robots.

00:13:50.970 --> 00:13:52.226
I'll give you an example.

00:13:52.250 --> 00:13:54.826
If you can use jelly to make a robot --

00:13:54.850 --> 00:13:56.746
now, we eat jelly, right?

00:13:56.770 --> 00:13:59.266
So, why not make something like this?

00:13:59.290 --> 00:14:00.690
A robot gummy bear.

00:14:01.770 --> 00:14:04.546
Here, I've got some I prepared earlier.

00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:06.170
There we go. I've got a packet --

00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:09.090
and I've got a lemon-flavored one.

00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:12.986
I'll take this gummy bear --
he's not robotic, OK?

00:14:13.010 --> 00:14:14.226
We have to pretend.

00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:17.266
And what you do with one of these
is you put it in your mouth --

00:14:17.290 --> 00:14:18.530
the lemon's quite nice.

00:14:19.370 --> 00:14:22.275
Try not to chew it too much,
it's a robot, it may not like it.

00:14:23.490 --> 00:14:25.706
And then you swallow it.

00:14:25.730 --> 00:14:27.426
And then it goes into your stomach.

00:14:27.450 --> 00:14:31.266
And when it's inside your stomach,
it moves, it thinks, it twists, it bends,

00:14:31.290 --> 00:14:32.506
it does something.

00:14:32.530 --> 00:14:34.706
It could go further down
into your intestines,

00:14:34.730 --> 00:14:37.066
find out whether you've got
some ulcer or cancer,

00:14:37.090 --> 00:14:39.186
maybe do an injection,
something like that.

00:14:39.210 --> 00:14:42.066
You know that once
it's done its job of work,

00:14:42.090 --> 00:14:44.306
it could be consumed by your stomach,

00:14:44.330 --> 00:14:46.026
or if you don't want that,

00:14:46.050 --> 00:14:47.666
it could go straight through you,

00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:48.906
into the toilet,

00:14:48.930 --> 00:14:51.146
and be degraded safely in the environment.

00:14:51.170 --> 00:14:54.410
So this changes the way, again,
in which we think about robots.

00:14:55.370 --> 00:14:59.666
So, we started off looking
at robots that would eat pollution,

00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.346
and then we're looking
at robots which we can eat.

00:15:02.370 --> 00:15:04.026
I hope this gives you some idea

00:15:04.050 --> 00:15:06.490
of the kinds of things
we can do with future robots.

00:15:08.210 --> 00:15:10.106
Thank you very much for your attention.

00:15:10.130 --> 00:15:13.613
(Applause)