A Power-Autonomous, Fully Edible Tensegrity Robot for Environmental Tasks and Emergency Sustenance

A Power-Autonomous, Fully Edible Tensegrity Robot for Environmental Tasks and Emergency Sustenance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A Power-Autonomous, Fully Edible Tensegrity Robot for Environmental Tasks and Emergency Sustenance Zebing Mao, Jingyi Yu, Shihui Yu, Mujia Yu, Changhong Linghu, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Tensegrity robots offer significant potential for disaster rescue and environmental monitoring. Traditional designs, however, rely on non-consumable electromechanical bodies that impose passive weight, reduce payload efficiency, and inevitably result in persistent electronic waste upon mission completion. To resolve this challenge, we propose a fully edible, power-autonomous, membrane-driven tensegrity robot that achieves a paradigm shift from a robot carrying food to a robot that is self-sustenance. The robot employs a stiff-compliant coupled architecture, utilizing food-grade cookies as compressive members and gelatin-based membranes as tensile elements. To enable electronics-free terrestrial locomotion, we integrated a fully edible pneumatic energy system that exploits the neutralization reaction between citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to generate carbon dioxide gas. This gas is modulated into pulsatile signals by a monostable fluidic logic valve, triggering out-of-plane expansion of the membrane surfaces. This expansion shifts the robot’s center of mass to induce a controllable rolling gait. Furthermore, the robot offers high metabolizable energy owing to its carbohydrate-rich composition (54.1 percent). To ensure biological safety, we conducted comprehensive evaluations ranging from in vitro simulated digestion to in vivo trials with live mice, confirming the system’s biocompatibility and metabolic integration. The proposed method provides a sustainable, zero-waste solution for wildlife vaccination, covert ecological monitoring, and autonomous emergency sustenance, effectively eliminating the ecological footprint of robotic deployment in sensitive environments. One-Sentence Summary A power-autonomous, fully edible tensegrity robot that shifts the paradigm from carrying food to being sustenance. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupportingInformation.docx Supporting Information SupplementaryVideoS1.mp4 Fabrication process of the edible tensegrity structure SupplementaryVideoS2.mp4 Evaluation of the mechanical properties of the edible tensegrity robot SupplementaryVideoS3.mp4 Demonstrations of the edibility and recyclability of the robotic system SupplementaryVideoS4.mp4 Demonstration of actuation and locomotion for the fully edible robot Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9149426","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607787983,"identity":"5391f8a4-4a7b-4f11-8d65-83d6cefa499d","order_by":0,"name":"Zebing Mao","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDADfgaGBCDFTIIWyQaStRgcAFNEaNFtP3yA8QeDnbzx+QPPJBgqrBMb2M8ewKvF7ExaAoMEQ7LhtgMH0iQYzqQnNvDkJeDXciDHgMGAgZlx28GGNAnGtsOJDRI8Bvi1nH9jAPR3vf3mZgagln/EaLkBtOUAw+HEDWwgLQ1EaXmWcLDB4HjyjDMMyRYJx9KN23hyCDks+eDDHxXVtv39ZxJvfKixlu1nP4NfCwgcYACr4UkARyYbQfUIwH6ABMWjYBSMglEwkgAAvLFB3FxKWyYAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2944-7151","institution":"Zhejiang University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zebing","middleName":"","lastName":"Mao","suffix":""},{"id":607787984,"identity":"5497aa49-d0d5-42b7-8cfd-e1a5984f1f2f","order_by":1,"name":"Jingyi Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jingyi","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":607787985,"identity":"983c012b-e056-4517-af97-9a287bf67842","order_by":2,"name":"Shihui Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Wenzhou Medical University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shihui","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":607787986,"identity":"10646c5d-81f9-4c00-81b9-f2210a947eaf","order_by":3,"name":"Mujia Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mujia","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":607787987,"identity":"ce1249c4-e26d-413e-8b31-8547169b7d76","order_by":4,"name":"Changhong Linghu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"City University of Hong Kong","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Changhong","middleName":"","lastName":"Linghu","suffix":""},{"id":607787988,"identity":"60df7350-ee6d-4f40-a30b-f014a871929d","order_by":5,"name":"Jun Shintake","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2442-2120","institution":"The University of Electro-Communications","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun","middleName":"","lastName":"Shintake","suffix":""},{"id":607787989,"identity":"f51e66b3-e8b8-4142-a94c-18b3f36ae619","order_by":6,"name":"Junhui Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Junhui","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":607787990,"identity":"5ddef830-914b-491c-b14b-146b989cbe7d","order_by":7,"name":"Bing Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bing","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-17 13:30:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105573277,"identity":"ae222b22-e38f-4a5a-beb6-d54b88e0ff66","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:31:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2091576,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EdibleTensegrityRobotMainText20260317.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1_covered_9cbf82ec-21bd-4179-a043-2d158c00df35.pdf"},{"id":105570878,"identity":"a21609d3-51b0-420c-b824-07d78db4b4f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:20:14","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1243852,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supporting Information","description":"","filename":"SupportingInformation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1/d344138d9e66e692a1443af5.docx"},{"id":105569440,"identity":"288f9046-08df-48c7-91f9-f60dbee1eccb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:12:34","extension":"mp4","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":36371300,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Fabrication process of the edible tensegrity structure","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryVideoS1.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1/2880737cf94450439d722dc3.mp4"},{"id":105568860,"identity":"28a0c79b-dd82-41aa-a2c2-715ec9ccefbf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:10:35","extension":"mp4","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":7261291,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eEvaluation of the mechanical properties of the edible tensegrity robot\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryVideoS2.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1/2ce16cc6cc78d7b3a9b41d5d.mp4"},{"id":105571010,"identity":"6e185773-8dd3-48d9-ba78-ec8198405d7b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:21:05","extension":"mp4","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":31422233,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Demonstrations of the edibility and recyclability of the robotic system","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryVideoS3.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1/b9222319b61df1cfed47e84c.mp4"},{"id":105569405,"identity":"05571ade-6955-4b70-9846-6f8794b5c1fc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:12:22","extension":"mp4","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":15718160,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Demonstration of actuation and locomotion for the fully edible robot","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryVideoS4.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9149426/v1/1f08d77df9b4a8f3f00215c3.mp4"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"A Power-Autonomous, Fully Edible Tensegrity Robot for Environmental Tasks and Emergency Sustenance","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTensegrity robots offer significant potential for disaster rescue and environmental monitoring. Traditional designs, however, rely on non-consumable electromechanical bodies that impose passive weight, reduce payload efficiency, and inevitably result in persistent electronic waste upon mission completion. To resolve this challenge, we propose a fully edible, power-autonomous, membrane-driven tensegrity robot that achieves a paradigm shift from a robot carrying food to a robot that is self-sustenance. The robot employs a stiff-compliant coupled architecture, utilizing food-grade cookies as compressive members and gelatin-based membranes as tensile elements. To enable electronics-free terrestrial locomotion, we integrated a fully edible pneumatic energy system that exploits the neutralization reaction between citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to generate carbon dioxide gas. This gas is modulated into pulsatile signals by a monostable fluidic logic valve, triggering out-of-plane expansion of the membrane surfaces. This expansion shifts the robot’s center of mass to induce a controllable rolling gait. Furthermore, the robot offers high metabolizable energy owing to its carbohydrate-rich composition (54.1 percent). To ensure biological safety, we conducted comprehensive evaluations ranging from in vitro simulated digestion to in vivo trials with live mice, confirming the system’s biocompatibility and metabolic integration. The proposed method provides a sustainable, zero-waste solution for wildlife vaccination, covert ecological monitoring, and autonomous emergency sustenance, effectively eliminating the ecological footprint of robotic deployment in sensitive environments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne-Sentence Summary\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA power-autonomous, fully edible tensegrity robot that shifts the paradigm from carrying food to being sustenance.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"A Power-Autonomous, Fully Edible Tensegrity Robot for Environmental Tasks and Emergency Sustenance","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-24 09:56:50","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9149426/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ee41a6a1-b1c7-4b4c-b2af-7d57f8914096","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 24th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"decision","content":"revise","date":"2026-05-13T09:24:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-01T10:30:40+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":64674765,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":64674766,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-13T09:32:08+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-24 09:56:50","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9149426","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9149426","identity":"rs-9149426","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}