ISU assistant professor develops power-saving tools to improve solar-powered robots

An assistant professor at Iowa State University is developing new power-saving methods to improve solar-powered robots, both on land and in the air.

For Ran Dai, an ISU assistant professor and Black and Veatch Faculty Fellow in aerospace engineering, this is her first time working with solar power. But after working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, she worked with Boeing to help make the 787 jet more power-efficient.

“So that work motivates this solar-powered robot,” she said. “My idea, at the beginning, was if we can implement the power-management research in the solar-powered robot, if we have limited solar power energy outside, can we schedule the operation of the robot to work more efficiently?”

After observing a range of other solar-powered products, Dai noticed the majority require a manual recharge every few hours. Even the strongest solar robot currently being used to defuse bombs in the military, Dai said, needs to be recharged every three hours. The key to a longer charge, she said, will require the robot to be smart enough to recharge itself.

“If we want to make the robot to work by itself, they need an automation system. That will make them smart enough to know what’s going on outside, and know how to adjust their operation,” she said. “The idea is if we want them to work permanently or have a long duration, we have to find a way to make them charge automatically.”

A longer battery life can provide more help in several areas, Dai said, including search and rescue missions, agriculture and environmental monitoring, or “anything that requires long-term operation.” As an end goal, Dai said she would like to eventually see a robot capable of working for up to several years.

Students at ISU are also helping to make that goal a reality. Along with students Adam Kaplan, Chuangchuang Sun, Nathaniel Kingry, Kishan Patel and Justin Vandentop, Dai is developing the third generation of a land robot, and the undergraduate program Make to Innovate is busy designing the first generation of an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of self-charging. That vehicle, Dai said, is planned to eventually determine which altitude and angle of flight will give it the most sun exposure and obtain the maximum amount of energy. The goal is to finish the UAV’s design this semester and prepare it for a flight test next year.

Dai’s power-management research is also supported by a five-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program to help support the research and teaching of junior faculty.

ISU assistant professor develops power-saving tools to improve solar-powered robots