Meet Robojelly, the Hydrogen-Powered Jellyfish-Shaped Immortal Underwater Surveillance Robot

This is the ticket. No energy storage at all; at least so far. Getting optics and sonar on one are two more big kettles of fish, and keep it relatively invisible to sonar once the surveillance equipment is on it is the other, but this really has to be a great project for VT just because those students gotta know that this looks to be an optimal platform for us to be able to interact in the environment.

Wait and hold on for one minute now!!!!
"...robotic jellyfish is powered by hydrogen, and could theoretically never run out of energy as it pulses through the sea..."

Why isn't an engineer figuring out how to harvest this hydrogen and make endless energy for us and solve our energy woes! Something about this article smells jelly fishy! Still, I hope a new type of hydrogen energy capture and producing device is developing, even if it is jelly fish robot. Maybe in the long run, something better will happen for the rest of us in energy production too!

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@ Space; I went and dug up a look at the VT program participants, where some of the creators list power generation-harvesting research as their specific educational interest. You DO know that it's just like with anything else, right? Just because someone drove a jellyfish with it is no reason to think that we at the public level are going to be exploiting these uses ourselves in any given time frame; even if someone with an idea actually plans for just that very thing. You think this one won't be Navy surveillance before you can buy one that swims around in your pool playing music underwater?

quasi44,
I am not interested in having a private jelly fish in my swimming pool or playing music underwater. And I have no unrealistic expectation of happening for the consumer tomorrow. My point was they created a electrical\mechanical device that is pulls hydrogen from the water and suggest it can do this on going and make electricity instead.

I just brain storming with hope, to put some kind of large scale device in the water, exploit hydrogen to have a mechanical device produce electricity. Do I see this happening tomorrow, the answer is no.

But it seems the possibility exist with the illustration of this device.

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
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@ Space

"...My point was they created a electrical\mechanical device that is pulls hydrogen from the water..."

Nowhere in the article does it say that it's pulling hydrogen from the water. The hydrogen in the water simply is the catalyst for the reaction causing the memory alloys to contract.

NoConsequenc3,
What do you make of this sentence, "...A new robotic jellyfish is powered by hydrogen, and could theoretically never run out of energy as it pulses through the sea..."
and
"...This means Robojelly can harvest its power directly from the water, requiring no external fuel source or energy storage. It is based on the jellyfish Aurelia aurita, the moon jellyfish..."?

I read that they created a mechanical device via yes a catalyst that gets it's hydrogen and oxygen from water(sea) and makes movement via creating heat and the flux of temperature with the memory metals.

Seems they created some type of chemical-catalyst=heat mechanical movement producing engine in sea water. I suggest they engineer it in large scale and connect it to a electrical generator of a sort.

Your point seems different than my point.
Exactly what is your point again?

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
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Make it pressure and cold resistent, and it becomes an excellent candidate to send to Europa!

"This means Robojelly can harvest its power directly from the water, requiring no external fuel source or energy storage."

The abstract, at least, makes no such claim. In fact it simply points out that the catalyst may make this run longer than if it were running on batteries - "A hydrogen and oxygen fuel source could potentially provide higher power density than electrical sources." Am I missing something?

Space, your comments can only be considered anti-science. Science tries to discover what can be done while technology tries to turn that discovery into something useful. We are far distant from that possibility here.

Also, behind your comments is an assumption that the world is running out of energy. It is not. Energy is scarce because every human need requires effort, or thought, for us to extract it.

We do not live in a la-la-land where we are little princes which the world cossets. The world has always been, “Root hog or die.” Hence, I suspect you are either very young or highly indoctrinated. You need to get out and experience ordinary people; we are not as dumb as you think.

Many people, for political reasons, prevent an abundance of energy. It may be that they fear a population explosion when the bulk of mankind no longer lives at subsistence, These people also act to prevent the eradication of disease in poorer regions around the globe; DDT is an example. They are not racists, per se, but they are eugenicists. They want to prevent competition with their social class which they will allow in token members. Their main adversary is lower class, western whites; that is, the common man.

The world is awash in energy which is untapped. Hydraulic Fracturing is an excellent case. Only a few years ago, it was assumed that the United States was hopelessly dependent on foreign oil. Now, it seems as though we will be energy independent in two to three years. That is, if the Environmentalists can be prevented from shutting that abundance down.

UrbanBard,
Brilliant! Brilliant! I really applaud your vivid storytelling, exaggerate and imagination. Nice job. I just got to know, do you also sell fertilizer on the weekends! LOL

I did not paint the world all gloom and doom as you do.
I simply suggest taking this inventive technology and exploiting it and using it for something else beneficial!

But hey, your opinion can be expressed too.
Mov'n on.

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
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@ Matt5327; There are still the gravity issues on Europa, and that changes the power cycle issues drastically. Also, the change in temps being so radical, there is more loss on the ends of the flow. To the point of becoming non-operable, when talking about this particular tech in this form. We'd drop one at Europa, and it wouldn't be able to move if it was a mile long or an inch.

@ UrbanBard; I'll take the first part of your statement @Space to myself, if you don't mind. I find myself doing that fairly often; especially on these types of sites, where the forward application aspects of a new tech are the primary grist.

@Space; Yeah. Sorry if I preached obvious at you. We do get a lot of younger users here that haven't had as many years to watch the compartmentalization and sequestration of new technologies by our governments, nor just how hard it is with some of these; to get our governments release their stranglehold on them. The onus here at PopSci or PopMechs has always been a response to this issue of "So What? Use the found tech in a new way that no one can stop". I like PopSci and PopMechs.

;

Actually, space, I can think of a number of uses which this device could be turned into. Power generation never entered my mind, though. There is a real need for ocean instrumentation. But, having been in the engineering field for forty years, I know how hard it is to turn a prototype into something feasible. Even worse, to get funding.

I was being practical. I was counting up the tens of thousands of man hours needed. Perhaps, you have experience which discounts that. What have you built? Are you adept at magic?

Maybe, you have failed to consider how low powered this thing is. That is its beauty. It could be disposable.

There are many higher powered inventions sitting on the shelf due to politics. That is not story telling, imagination or exaggeration.

The Chinese government recently announced that it is planning to build one invention which I appreciated: Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. It was prototyped at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the early sixties. It was sidelined because it could not be used to breed plutonium for bombs. Even with the increased knowledge of the last forty years, the first LFTR will cost well above $100 million.

So, why will it be constructed in China not the US? Hell, the fourth Generation light water reactors, approved by the Bush administration, are being strangled to death by Obama’s regulations.

Would the US government take a chance on a new design? No way. Even one that is inherently safer? Nope. Maybe when I was starting my engineering career in the sixties, but not now. LFTR came very close to being utilized back then. But the military ruled the day, so it was forgotten, until now.

Don’t assume, that because someone disagrees with you, that they are lacking in knowledge. They may have practical experience which you don’t. They may have spent years thwarted by obdurate bureaucracy and anti-nuke politics.

I don’t mind brainstorming, quas144, but the next step is to rule out the impractical. This device seems to have a lower energy density than most alternative energy sources. If Wind, Solar and Biomass don’t cut it, this won’t either. Although, Solar is getting very close to becoming practical. It isn’t yet paying for the energy necessary to manufacture it.

Space’s argument seemed unworkable. Perhaps, I read too much into his motivations and assumed an Environmentalist bias. If I am wrong, i apologize, space.

All I wanted Space to do was get real.

And BTW, I am 69. I don’t discount new techniques. This looks like it would be great for testing sea water. The question is how much surplus energy it could produce. Not much. But, maybe enough to run a computer to track readings and enough to pass on info to space or to other such devices. The nano technology sensors are getting very good and quite low powered.

It is just a design consideration. And, even that is very speculative.

You guys kill me, lol. First please go up and read my first comment.

“…Why isn't an engineer figuring out how to harvest this hydrogen and make endless energy for us and solve our energy woes!...” As I am making a brainstorming suggestion, I also acknowledge that a person of engineering education and profession consider my idea, which means as I introduce my suggestion, I am also applying humility.

They I used the word, “…Maybe..” further down in my comments, being I am just proposing a suggestion.

You guys, my career has been as an Electronic Technician to the single component level. I later went back to college for Computer Network Administration. I never claim to be an Engineer. In my experience of my own career, I often run into other professionals and their ego that will quickly shut down an idea. In some of the people comments above I get some of the same ego vibe and spout back at me.
I have work in my career 25 years and I understand how the systems work. Part of that career has been working in a R&D lab. I have seen politics and egos stifle growth of products.

All I did was make a suggestion and maybe it is not feasible today, but to put it on a mental shelf of consideration for tomorrow. I see a mechanical device getting power from water via the use of hydrogen and oxygen, catalyst and heat. Adding all these things together is just a step towards making power and converting it to energy.

Solar power panels were not efficient with they were first invented and yet engineers continue to develop them in hopes of making them purely efficient in manufacturing and energy production. Yes inventions and their growth take time, I understand that.

Do not be so stifling. The largest limitation we have in growth is the limitations we put upon ourselves in our minds!

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and from different perspectives too!

Hey guys, check this out.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-03/new-catalyst-helps-store-hydrogen-simple-safe-future-fuel-use#comments

The POPSCI login thumbpick wrote bringing to light an excellent link, www.blacklightpower.com

Read thumpick comments and go to the link. It is excellent reading.

Sounds to me like the powder they coated the nanotubes with is the catalyst and it actually separates the hydrogen and oxygen in water, creating heat energy in the breaking of the bonds.