University of Oxford Engineers Create Synchronized 'Brain-Free' Robots Powered by Air
- MM24 News Desk
- Nov 6
- 3 min read
Credit: Antonio Forte and Mostafa Mousa.
University of Oxford researchers have pioneered a new class of soft robots that operate without a single computer, motor, or electronic chip. Powered entirely by air pressure, these 'fluidic robots' can generate complex, rhythmic movements and spontaneously synchronize their actions, a breakthrough that could lead to highly adaptive machines for extreme environments.
Imagine a team of robots that move in perfect harmony, not because they are following a complex digital program, but because their very physical design compels them to cooperate. This is the reality created by a team at the University of Oxford, whose "brain-less" robots represent a radical departure from conventional robotics. Their study, published on 05 November in Advanced Materials, details how small, modular blocks powered only by air can exhibit surprisingly intelligent behaviours like hopping, crawling, and edge-detection, all without a central processor.
“We are excited to see that brain-less machines can spontaneously generate complex behaviours, decentralising functional tasks to the peripheries and freeing up resources for more intelligent tasks,” said the study's lead, Professor Antonio Forte of the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. The research tackles a core challenge in soft robotics: embedding decision-making directly into a robot's body. Traditional robots rely on intricate electronic circuits for sensing, programming, and control, but the Oxford team found inspiration in nature, where synchronised behaviour often emerges without a central command center.
The key to this innovation is a single, modular component that uses air pressure to perform multiple roles, much like an electronic circuit uses electricity. As reported in Advanced Materials, this single block can be configured to act as a muscle that moves, a touch sensor that detects pressure, or a valve that switches airflow on and off. Like LEGO bricks, multiple identical units—each a few centimetres in size—can be connected to build different functional robots. The researchers constructed tabletop-sized robots that demonstrated remarkable autonomy.
In one configuration, a single unit can combine all three functions, allowing it to generate rhythmic movement on its own once a constant air pressure is applied. Even more impressively, when several of these oscillating units are linked together, their movements begin to synchronize spontaneously. “This spontaneous coordination requires no predetermined instructions but arises purely from the way the units are coupled to each other and upon their interaction with the environment,” explained lead author Dr. Mostafa Mousa of the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford.
This principle was used to create functional robots. One was a shaker robot that could sort beads by tilting a platform, and another was a crawler robot that detected a table's edge and automatically stopped to prevent a fall. In both cases, the coordinated actions were achieved entirely through mechanical means, with no external electronic control.
The team used a mathematical framework called the Kuramoto model to explain this emergent synchronisation, revealing that the coordination arises from the physical coupling of the robots through their shared body and the reaction forces from the ground.
“Just as fireflies can begin flashing in unison after watching one another, the robot’s air-powered limbs also fall into rhythm, but in this case through physical contact with the ground rather than visual cues,” Dr. Mousa stated. This work is a major step toward "embodied intelligence," where a machine's intelligence is a product of its physical form. Professor Forte envisions a future shaped by this technology: “Encoding decision-making and behaviour directly into the robot’s physical structure could lead to adaptive, responsive machines that don’t need software to ‘think.’ It is a shift from ‘robots with brains’ to ‘robots that are their own brains.’”
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