Power (physics)

Related papers: 20

About

Power, in the physics sense, is the rate at which energy is transferred or converted over time, measured in watts (joules per second). In robotics and AI, power considerations permeate nearly every system layer: actuators must deliver sufficient mechanical power for locomotion and manipulation, onboard batteries and energy harvesters must supply reliable electrical power, and circuits must operate within tight power budgets to extend operational lifetime. Engineers balance peak power demands—such as a robot jumping or a drone hovering—against average consumption, efficiency losses, and thermal limits. Power also governs the feasibility of untethered, miniature, or wearable systems, where harvesting energy from motion, fluid flow, or electromagnetic sources can replace or supplement batteries. In exoskeletons, delivering the right power at the right moment enables physical assistance without overwhelming the user. In microrobotics, ultralow-power electronics and novel nanogenerators make autonomous operation possible at tiny scales. Understanding power constraints is therefore fundamental to designing robots that are capable, efficient, and practically deployable in real-world environments.

Top Cited Papers

Efficient Bipedal Robots Based on Passive-Dynamic Walkers

Steven H. Collins, Andy Ruina, Russ Tedrake, Martijn Wisse

Citations: 1878 • 2005

Making the Social World

John R. Searle

Citations: 1764 • 2010

Ultralow-power organic complementary circuits

Hagen Klauk, Ute Zschieschang, Jens Pflaum, Marcus Halik

Citations: 1402 • 2007

Reducing the energy cost of human walking using an unpowered exoskeleton

Steven H. Collins, M. Bruce Wiggin, Gregory S. Sawicki

Citations: 1021 • 2015

Lithium-ion battery structure that self-heats at low temperatures

Chao‐Yang Wang, Guangsheng Zhang, Shanhai Ge, Terrence Xu, Yan Ji, Xiaoguang Yang, Yongjun Leng

Citations: 854 • 2016

Design and control of quadrotors with application to autonomous flying

Samir Bouabdallah

Citations: 748 • 2006

On the first principle theory of nanogenerators from Maxwell's equations

Zhong Lin Wang

Citations: 693 • 2019

Discovery of Cellulose as a Smart Material

Jaehwan Kim, Sungryul Yun, Zoubeida Ounaies

Citations: 672 • 2006

How Should Microrobots Swim?

Jake J. Abbott, Kathrin E. Peyer, Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino, Li Zhang, Lixin Dong, I. Kaliakatsos, Bradley J. Nelson

Citations: 666 • 2009

The Energy Harvesting Eel: a small subsurface ocean/river power generator

George W. Taylor, James R. Burns, S.A. Kammann, W.B. Powers, T.R. Welsh

Citations: 645 • 2001

Lock-in Time-of-Flight (ToF) Cameras: A Survey

Sergi Foix, Guillem Alenyà, Carme Torras

Citations: 629 • 2011

Design of HyQ – a hydraulically and electrically actuated quadruped robot

Claudio Semini, Nikos G. Tsagarakis, E. Guglielmino, Michele Focchi, Ferdinando Cannella, Darwin G. Caldwell

Citations: 627 • 2011

An electric-eel-inspired soft power source from stacked hydrogels

Thomas B. H. Schroeder, Anirvan Guha, Aaron Lamoureux, Gloria VanRenterghem, David Sept, Max Shtein, Jerry Yang, Michael Mayer

Citations: 574 • 2017

Automatic autonomous vision-based power line inspection: A review of current status and the potential role of deep learning

Van Nhan Nguyen, Robert Jenssen, Davide Roverso

Citations: 565 • 2018

Review of Microscale Magnetic Power Generation

David P. Arnold

Citations: 546 • 2007

From contact electrification to triboelectric nanogenerators

Zhong Lin Wang

Citations: 529 • 2021

An EMG-Based Control for an Upper-Limb Power-Assist Exoskeleton Robot

Kazuo Kiguchi, Yoshiaki Hayashi

Citations: 528 • 2012

Flexible self-charging power sources

Ruiyuan Liu, Zhong Lin Wang, Kenjiro Fukuda, Takao Someya

Citations: 498 • 2022

Control of pneumatic muscle actuators

Darwin G. Caldwell, Gustavo A. Medrano‐Cerda, Mary Goodwin-Trotman

Citations: 467 • 1995

Space solar power programs and microwave wireless power transmission technology

James McSpadden, John C. Mankins

Citations: 444 • 2002