University of the West of England

 

IAS Lab, CEMS Faculty

 

 

Areas of Interest:

The group’s main focus is the development of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) systems, which can be used to provide energy for prolonged periods. The main objective of the research is the development of an artificial agent that by incorporating such an energy supply system, can be capable of energetic autonomy. There is also particular interest in investigating the bacterial reactions within the fuel cells apart from producing power, e.g. for sensing. 

 

Activity and Expertise:

To date the group has developed a proof-of-concept robot named EcoBot that performs photo taxis and is only powered by Microbial Fuel Cells fed with sugar. Current investigations are different types of microorganisms that can be used in either single or mixed cultures to produce more power for longer. Furthermore and in parallel with the above-mentioned experiments, a wireless temperature sensor is being developed, which will be powered by MFCs. The long-term objective of this research is the design and manufacture of an energetically autonomous robot. 

 

Credentials:

A number of papers have been published during the last 2 years:

 

Ieropoulos, I., Greenman, J., Melhuish, C. (2003): 'Imitating Metabolism: Energy Autonomy in Biologically Inspired Robotics', in Proceedings of the AISB '03, Second International Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts, SSAISB, Aberystwyth, Wales, pp 191-4.

 

Ioannis Ieropoulos, Chris Melhuish and John Greenman (2003): 'Artificial Metabolism: Towards True Energetic Autonomy in Artificial Life', Proceedings of the 7th European Conference in Artificial Life (ECAL 2003), Dortmund, Germany.

 

Chris Melhuish, John Greenman, Kevin Bartholomew, Ioannis Ieropoulos and Ian Horsfield.' Towards Robot Energetic Autonomy using Microbial Fuel Cells', (in press) J. Electrochimica Acta (special edition).

 

Ioannis Ieropoulos, Chris Melhuish and John Greenman (2004): ‘Energetically Autonomous Robots’, (accepted for publication) in the 8th Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems, March 2004.

 

Funding has also been received from the EPSRC for this research.

 

Fuel cell and/or Hydrogen courses and modules offered:

None currently offered.

 

Contact:          Prof. Chris Melhuish

 

Email:              Chris.Melhuish@uwe.ac.uk

                       

Tel:                  +44 (0)117 344 2539

 

Address:          Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory,

DuPont building, CEMS Faculty,

UWE,

Frenchay Campus,

Coldharbour Lane,

Bristol, BS16 1QY UK

 

Website:          http://www.ias.uwe.ac.uk (follow links for Energetic Autonomy)