Fudan University Team Unveils Robot Leg Pads That Draw Power From the Ground, Easing Battery Burden on Microrobots

Leaderobot.com reported on Oct. 8, 2026, that a Fudan University research team had developed a thin film for leg pads that harvests power directly from the ground for crawling microrobots. According to the report, the film generates electricity as the robot walks on active surfaces such as aluminum, zinc and silicon.

If the Fudan University report is accurate, the operating constraints on microrobots would shift from battery capacity to the properties of the surfaces their legs touch. Where power harvesting from active surfaces is possible, the approach could support longer operation than a design that carries the weight of a battery, but its application is limited to materials such as aluminum, zinc and silicon.

What is new in this report is the idea of turning the surface underfoot into a power source, rather than increasing the capacity of a microrobot’s onboard power supply. To address the burden batteries pose for a robot weighing about 1.7 grams, the Fudan University team turned the leg pads into power generators. However, this is not a fully battery-free system: It works only on active surfaces and uses a supercapacitor to cover dead zones. A connection to our newspaper’s previous coverage can be seen in the trend of using touch and skin to expand functionality. Generative Bionics unveils Gene.01, a smart-skin humanoid robot designed to work with people treated the skin as a layer for safety and contact detection. In the Fudan University case, the exterior also serves as a power source. The functions differ, but both point toward using a robot’s outer skin for sensing and power, shifting the design focus from the body’s interior to its surface. See the original report for details. The broader industry implication is that a microrobot’s operating time depends not only on the robot itself but also on the types of flooring and environmental surfaces it contacts. The system can generate power on aluminum, zinc and silicon, but not on plastic or glass, limiting the spaces where it can operate. In other words, for practical use in exploration and inspection, designers will need to account for the materials at the site as well as the robot’s miniaturization. Unresolved questions include how to implement automatic electrolyte replenishment and how stable performance will remain during long-term operation. The report says the electrolyte degrades through exposure to carbon dioxide and corrosion, and that researchers manually replenish potassium hydroxide. A maintenance method capable of supporting field use has not yet been established.

For Japanese research institutions and companies, including the University of Tokyo, working on microrobots or exterior materials, the key point is that design variables should include not only what goes inside the robot but also the material of the surfaces it contacts. The system’s potential applications are likely to differ significantly depending on whether inspection targets are mainly metal or made of resin and glass.