英國利茲大學（University of Leeds）29日發布消息說，該校研究人員正與其他院校合作，開發利用微波波束為機器人以及其他數字裝置實現遠程充電的新技術。這個項目由利茲大學、倫敦大學國王學院以及蘭卡斯特大學的研究人員合作進行。相關技術一旦成熟，有望應用在國防、環境監控以及智能運輸等多個領域。早在19世紀，就有科學家提出了無線充電技術的理論并開展實驗。

如今，人們手中的智能電話等設備也已部分實現無線充電，不過最大的問題還是距離——市面上的無線充電器仍需要與手機接觸才能開始充電。

因此，這個項目將主要探索遠距離無線充電的可能性。利用目前在天線陣列技術方面的突破，研究團隊將開發相關系統，利用可控的微波波束遠程為機器人進行無線充電。

參與項目的Ian Robertson說，結合先進的信號處理、無線網絡以及微波工程等技術，可控的微波波束能安全地實現遠程能量傳輸。但他也坦言，仍有許多技術難關需要逾越。

原文參考：

New research aims to charge robots remotely

Researchers at the University of Leeds are taking part in a project to develop ways to wirelessly “beam” power into robots and other digital systems.

The £1 million SWIFT project is the first collaborative UK effort to develop systems that can simultaneously transfer information and power across wireless networks.

Wireless power transfer dates back to Nikola Tesla, who experimentally demonstrated wireless energy transfer (WET) in the late 19th century, and short-range wireless charging of mobile phones and other gadgets is about to become standard.

However, the new project will focus on the possibility of longer-range wireless charging, exploiting recent advances in electronically-steered antennas that make it feasible to power robots safely over a significant distance using a microwave beam.

Researchers at Leeds, King’s College London and Lancaster University are involved in the project, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Professor Ian Robertson, of the University of Leeds’ School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, said: “This is a very exciting opportunity to demonstrate that steerable microwave beams can safely transmit significant power over long distances, with advanced new techniques combining expertise in information theory, signal processing, wireless networking and microwave engineering.”

A key aim of the new project is to build working prototypes of wirelessly powered robots, which will be fabricated in the new EPSRC National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems at Leeds.

The SWIFT project is supported by leading UK industry partners including Thales, the Mobile VCE, Instrumentel and Lime Microsystems along with prominent international partners from Princeton University and the National University of Singapore.

Professor Zhiguo Ding, from Lancaster University’s School of Computing and Communications, who will lead the project, said: “This project is the first interdisciplinary initiative to promote innovation and technology transfer between academia and industry in the UK for one of the most challenging and most important problems in future communication networks.”

Wireless communication systems employ electromagnetic waves in order to transfer information. Until recently, the information transmission capacity of these signals has been the main focus of research and applications, neglecting their energy content. However, thanks to recent advances in silicon technology, the energy requirements of embedded systems have been significantly reduced, making electromagnetic waves a potentially useful source of energy.

Professor Robertson added: “Wireless power transfer to robots provides many exciting opportunities: in the 1960s, Raytheon demonstrated that a large model helicopter could be remotely powered by a microwave beam and elevated to 50 feet. However, there are many challenges that need to be addressed to make such an approach economical and safe.”

Professor Arumugam Nallanathan, Professor in Wireless Communications at  King’s College London, said: “This research will bring significant benefits to a range of applications including environmental monitoring, tactical surveillance, intelligent transportation, wireless healthcare, future factories, and smart cities."

The SWIFT project will run for three years.

In a separate development, the University of Leeds became a founding member of the EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network on June 25. The Network will bring together the UK’s core academic capabilities in robotics innovation under national coordination for the first time and encourage academic and industry collaborations that will accelerate the development and adoption of robotics and autonomous systems.

The founding network members are Imperial College London, Bristol Robotics Lab, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, Loughborough University, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield, University of Southampton, University College London, and University of Warwick.