Future factory conveyor belts could sense, sort and move objects on the correct travel path with massive arrays of micro-actuators that work like cilia in the human body.rnResearchers from the University of the West of England see this as the future for industrial transportation systems. The group, led by Prof Andy Adamatzky, recently won a ￡360,000 EPSRC grant to develop its concept.rnTheir technology's design uses low-power micro-actuators that collectively transport and posi-rntion objects. Its inspiration comes from the biological phenomena of cilia - small hair-like structures on the surface of cells that sense local properties, such as inrnolfactory neurons for smell. They can also move in a coordinated wave action to pass liquid over their surface. Examples of this are in the trachea and kidneys.
展开▼
