Imagine a future scene like this: a water robot turns into bait that koi fish compete to eat; a robot dances and then turns into a delicious cake... These technological ideas full of creativity and down-to-earth spirit are now becoming a reality.
The research team of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) has created an aquatic robot using fish feed as raw material. After completing its mission, it will naturally degrade into a delicious meal for fish. Previously, scientists from the school also joined hands with Italian scientists to launch a fully edible robot wedding cake RoboCake.
Edible robots not only help to cleverly resolve the pollution problems of traditional electronic devices, but are also opening the door to innovation in multiple fields, and are expected to be of great use in healthcare, environmental management and other areas.
Both a tool and food
In the EPFL Intelligent Systems Laboratory, the water robot created by Professor Dario Floreano's team looks like a miniature motorboat, is about 5 cm long, weighs an average of 1.43 grams, and can move at a maximum speed of 3 times its body length per second in the water.
The secret of this robot lies in its unique structure. The main structure is made of freeze-dried fish feed, and the power comes from a chemical reaction triggered by water: citric acid reacts with sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide, and the gas pressure forces propylene glycol to spray out, causing the local water surface tension to drop sharply to form thrust, which can drive the robot to move continuously for several minutes.
All components of the robot are biodegradable. Researchers said that when the robot completes its task, it will absorb water and soften like tea leaves, slowly sinking into the water and becoming a delicious meal for fish.
The RoboFood project led by Floreano was launched in 2021. It aims to create edible robots for food preservation, emergency nutrition supply, human and veterinary medicine, etc., and has received 3.5 million euros in funding from the European Union. The laboratory has developed many innovative achievements, such as edible fluid circuits and edible conductive inks for monitoring crop growth.
The latest creation from Machine Food is RoboCake, a three-tiered wedding cake topped with a pomegranate-flavored gelatin robot that moves its head and arms with the help of a pneumatic system, and a bottom layer embedded with an edible battery made from vitamin B2, quercetin, and chocolate that powers LED candles.
Scientists worked with chefs to create a robotic wedding cake that can be eaten in its entirety. Image credit: EPFL
Floreano said they are redefining the boundary between robots and food, and robots in the future may be both tools and food.
Widely used and environmentally friendly
Floreano believes that the water robot developed by his team not only provides new ideas for environmental monitoring, but also can revolutionize the way of drug administration in aquaculture.
The application of water robots is just the tip of the iceberg. EPFL scientists once wrote in the journal Nature Reviews Materials that edible robots are expected to play a role in healthcare, environmental regulation and other fields.
Edible robots can enable precise drug delivery and in vivo health monitoring. Specifically, they can move along the esophagus to deliver drugs, help people or animals with dysphagia, reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia, or monitor health conditions in the digestive tract in real time.
Edible robots can also provide nutrition to humans or animals in emergency situations. For example, they are particularly suitable for wildlife rescue, because animals have a natural interest in mobile food sources. In aquaculture, this characteristic can improve feed utilization and reduce water pollution.
At the same time, the mobile edible robot can simulate the food that wild animals like, and has built-in vaccines and positioning systems, which can actively attract wild animals such as wild boars to get vaccinated, so as to effectively control the spread of the disease.
In addition, edible robots can also provide people with novel food experiences. For example, the first bite of RoboCake is a rich dark chocolate flavor, followed by a slight acid stimulation of electrolytes. This "cake that changes taste" shows the infinite possibilities of food technology.
Most importantly, in the context of 40 million tons of electronic waste generated worldwide each year, the design concept of edible robots, which “comes from nature and returns to nature”, is redefining the harmonious relationship between technology and the environment.
Risks and challenges still need attention
As edible robots develop rapidly, scientists are carefully considering their potential risks and challenges.
First of all, there is the problem of intelligent computing. Existing computing systems rely on traditional transistors and are not edible. Although biological molecules such as carotenoids and food dyes are edible, their information processing and integration capabilities are limited. How to create a computing system that is both intelligent and digestible is still a major issue.
Another major challenge is the lack of verification of the safety of edible robots. Although their materials are all digestible and considered safe, some scientists are worried that although some ingredients of edible robots are safe to eat alone, cross-reactions between multiple ingredients may lead to unforeseen adverse consequences.
Miniaturization and quality control are also challenges that edible robots need to address. If these robots are intended to assess body functions and autonomously perform medical interventions (such as precision drug delivery), they must be small enough. In addition, unlike relatively simple nutritional robots, these robots are made up of more components that must work together, and any failure could lead to catastrophic consequences. Therefore, quality control must be carried out to ensure that they are foolproof when operating in the body.
In addition, Floreano's team also pointed out that extending the shelf life of edible robots and giving them a pleasant taste are also difficult problems that need to be solved urgently.
(Original title: "From Nature, Back to Nature", Edible Robots Open Up New Technology on the Tip of the Tongue)
- TzUmlWkXyjIxt05/16/2025