Wireless flow-powered miniature robot capable of traversing tubular structures

Wireless millimeter-scale robots capable of navigating through fluid-flowing tubular structures hold substantial potential for inspection, maintenance, or repair use in nuclear, industrial, and medical applications. However, prevalent reliance on external power constrains their operational range and applicable environments. Alternatives with onboard powering must trade off size, functionality, and operation duration. Here, we propose a wireless millimeter-scale wheeled robot capable of using environmental flows to power and actuate its long-distance locomotion through complex pipelines. The flow-powering module can convert flow energy into mechanical energy, achieving an impeller speed of up to 9595 revolutions per minute, accompanied by an output power density of 11.7 watts per cubic meter and an efficiency of 33.7%. A miniature gearbox module can further transmit the converted mechanical energy into the robot’s locomotion system, allowing the robot to move against water flow at an ave..., , , # Wireless flow-powered miniature robot capable of traversing tubular structures Supplementary data for Chong Hong et al., \"Wireless flow-powered miniature robot capable of traversing tubular structures\", Science Robotics, 9(88), eadi5155, 2024. ## GENERAL INFORMATION: 1. Author information: Corresponding authors Name: Wenqi Hu, Metin Sitti Institution: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]), [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]) 2. Date of data collection: 2022-2023 3. Geographic location of data collection: Stuttgart, Germany ## FILE OVERVIEW: File 1 Name: Figure 2D.xlsx (Date: 2022) File 1 Description: Data of simulated and experimental mean impeller rotational speed with different (i) fin amount and (ii) fin length. File 2 Name: Figure 2E.xlsx (Date: 2022) File 2 Description: Data of the simulated mean impeller rotational speed with different (i) fin thickness, (ii) fin-housing gap, and (iii) fin a...