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TumblerBots: Tumbling Robotic sensors for Minimally-invasive Benthic Monitoring

L. Romanello, A. Teboul, F. Wiesemuller, P. H. Nguyen, M. Kovac, S. F. Armanini

Abstract

Robotic systems show significant promise for water environmental sensing applications such as water quality monitoring, pollution mapping and biodiversity data collection. Conventional deployment methods often disrupt fragile ecosystems, preventing depiction of the undisturbed environmental condition. In response to this challenge, we propose a novel framework utilizing a lightweight tumbler system equipped with a sensing unit, deployed via a drone. This design minimizes disruption to the water habitat by maintaining a slow descent. The sensing unit is detached once on the water surface, enabling precise and non-invasive data collection from the benthic zone. The tumbler is designed to be lightweight and compact, enabling deployment via a drone. The sensing pod, which detaches from the tumbler and descends to the bottom of the water body, is equipped with temperature and pressure sensors, as well as a buoyancy system. The later, activated upon task completion, utilizes a silicon membrane inflated via a chemical reaction. The reaction generates a pressure of 70 kPa, causing the silicon membrane to expand by 30\%, which exceeds the 5.7\% volume increase required for positive buoyancy. The tumblers, made from ecofriendly materials to minimize environmental impact when lost during the mission, were tested for their gliding ratio and descent rate. They exhibit a low descent rate, in the range of 0.8 to 2.5 meters per seconds, which minimizes disturbance to the ecosystem upon water landing. Additionally, the system demonstrated robustness in moderate to strong wind conditions during outdoor tests, validating the overall framework.

TumblerBots: Tumbling Robotic sensors for Minimally-invasive Benthic Monitoring

Abstract

Robotic systems show significant promise for water environmental sensing applications such as water quality monitoring, pollution mapping and biodiversity data collection. Conventional deployment methods often disrupt fragile ecosystems, preventing depiction of the undisturbed environmental condition. In response to this challenge, we propose a novel framework utilizing a lightweight tumbler system equipped with a sensing unit, deployed via a drone. This design minimizes disruption to the water habitat by maintaining a slow descent. The sensing unit is detached once on the water surface, enabling precise and non-invasive data collection from the benthic zone. The tumbler is designed to be lightweight and compact, enabling deployment via a drone. The sensing pod, which detaches from the tumbler and descends to the bottom of the water body, is equipped with temperature and pressure sensors, as well as a buoyancy system. The later, activated upon task completion, utilizes a silicon membrane inflated via a chemical reaction. The reaction generates a pressure of 70 kPa, causing the silicon membrane to expand by 30\%, which exceeds the 5.7\% volume increase required for positive buoyancy. The tumblers, made from ecofriendly materials to minimize environmental impact when lost during the mission, were tested for their gliding ratio and descent rate. They exhibit a low descent rate, in the range of 0.8 to 2.5 meters per seconds, which minimizes disturbance to the ecosystem upon water landing. Additionally, the system demonstrated robustness in moderate to strong wind conditions during outdoor tests, validating the overall framework.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 18 sections, 3 equations, 8 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Methodology & Materials
  3. Mission
  4. Tumbler
  5. Tumbler choice
  6. Tumbler dynamics
  7. Tumbler design
  8. Benthic Sensing pod
  9. Electronics
  10. Monitoring sensors
  11. Buoyancy
  12. Drone & Gripper
  13. Materials & Manufacturing
  14. Tests & Results
  15. Tumbling tests
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: The drone, holding and ready to deploy the tumbler (TumblerPod), during an outdoor mission over a lake.
  • Figure 2: Overall mission [From Left to Right]: The drone flies to deployment location above the water and releases the tumbler (TumblerPod). The tumbler steadily tumbles towards the water surface. The sensor pod then breaks away and sinks to the bottom of the lake and starts taking ecological measurements of the region. After it finishes its task, the buoyancy module activates through chemical reaction and the pod rises to the surface of the lake as a retrieval drone arrives to pick it up.
  • Figure 3: Tumbler designs evaluated. From left to right, top to bottom: Circle1 (R, SL, HP, 32g), Circle2 (R, SL, HP, 33g), Square (R, SL, HP, 28g), Dodecagon1 (R, SL, HP, 36g), Dodecagon2 (R, DL, HP, 68g), Dodecagon3 (R, DL, LP, 22g). R = reinforced / SL = single layer / DL = double layer/ HP = heavy paper / LP = light paper
  • Figure 4: (a) Overall framework consisting of the drone, gripper, tumbler, and sensing unit, with a detailed view of the gripper mechanism. (b) Sensing unit with a detailed view of its internal components.
  • Figure 5: (Top row) Tumbler designs. (Middle) Tumbling tests of the above tumbler shapes without payload. (Bottom) Tumbling tests of the above tumbler shapes with a payload of 60 g. Right bar is an indication of the descend rate, ranging from 0 to 3 m/s.
  • ...and 3 more figures