Stochastic Jumping Robots for Large-Scale Environmental Sensing

Single-use jumping robots that are mass-producible and biodegradable could be quickly released for environmental sensing applications. Such robots would be pre-loaded to perform a set number of jumps, in random directions and with random distances, removing the need for onboard energy and computation. Stochastic jumpers build on embodied randomness and large-scale deployments to perform useful work. This paper introduces simulation results showing how to construct a large group of stochastic jumpers to perform environmental sensing, and the first demonstration of robot prototypes that can perform a set number of sequential jumps, have full-body sensing, and are well suited to be made biodegradable. An interactive preprint version of the article can be found at: https://www.authorea.com/doi/full/10.22541/au.163525369.97561426.