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The potential role of renewable energy sources

in robot's power system: A case study of
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Article in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · May 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.10.055

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 Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

The potential role of renewable energy sources in robot's power system: A

case study of Pakistan
⁎
Jamshed Iqbala, , Zeashan Hameed Khanb
a
Department of Electrical Engineering, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES), H-11/4, Islamabad, Pakistan
b
Department of Electrical Engineering, Riphah International University (RIU), I-14, Islamabad, Pakistan

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: The domain of ‘robotics’ is undergoing a major transformation in dimension as well as scope. Recent advances
Renewable energy applications in various disciplines of technology have revolutionized this domain at an incredible pace far beyond the
Energy consumption contemporary state of the art. Highlighting the forecasted population of robots in future and the resulting
Robot's power system demand of massive energy consumption, this review addresses the application of renewable energy sources in
uninterruptible supply for robots. The study analyzes the extensive field of renewable energy technology and
discovers that comparing with traditional sources; green energies like solar, wind and biological have significant
potential to drive robots. Listing the world-wide achievements attained by the applications of renewable energy
technology for robots, the review finally presents the subject matter in context of Pakistan. It is shown that being
rich in renewable energy resources, broad possibilities for robot technologies exist here. With a discussion on
challenges to exploit this potential, suggestions are outlined. It is anticipated that wider dissemination of
research developments in the integration of these streams will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations
among the research community and contribute to further advancements.

1. Introduction
Recent advancements in robotics have changed our lives to a great
extent [1]. We now have control and automation in many home
appliances, hand-held devices and even industrial systems [2]. In fact,
robotics is a relatively new field of modern technology that crosses
conventional engineering boundaries [3]. New domains of engineering
e.g. applications engineering, manufacturing engineering and knowl-
edge engineering, are emerging in order to deal with the complexity of
the discipline of robotics. Lead by science fiction, robot technology
keeps extending incredibly [4]. Today, robots are being deployed to
accomplish tasks having strict requirements of accuracy, precision,
repeatability, mass production and quality in addition to ease of human
effort and cost effectiveness [5]. It is predicted that within few years,
robotics engineering will stand on its own as a distinct engineering
discipline [6]. The anticipated bright future of robotics is based on
various concrete facts. Global markets require modernization of
production procedures [7]. Demand in variety of products together
with strict requirements of improved quality has highlighted role of
flexible automation systems centered on high-tech robots [8]. New
materials and energy efficiency require retooling of production. Robots
act as a good replacement to humans in performing tedious, dangerous
and dirty tasks [9]. Advances in sensing, actuation and computing
systems together with realization of intelligent Human Robot
Interfaces (HRI) is anticipated to open new avenues for robot applica-
tions [10].
Robots can be broadly categorized as industrial robots and service
robots, of which the former take up most of robot energy consumption.
In an industrial context, a robot is a general-purpose machine which is
usually based on a human-like arm [11]. The manipulator can be
programmed to move its links and end-effector through a sequence of
motions in order to perform some useful task [12]. It will repeat that
motion pattern over and over until reprogrammed to perform some
other task [13]. Manipulator-based multi-Degree Of Freedom (DOF)
articulated robots are very common in industrial sector [14] where they
are used for various applications [15] including cutting [16], welding
[17], polishing [18], painting [19], moving [20] and assembling [21].
Consider the example of automotive industry where the trend to
employ robots is continuously increasing primarily due to required
modernization and retooling [22]. Fig. 1 shows a manipulator perform-
ing spot welding task in an automotive robotized site [23].
Historically, robot's population followed an increasing trend. As an
example, Fig. 2 shows population of industrial robots in US during
1970–1980. Statistical data recently released by International

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jamshed.iqbal@nu.edu.pk (J. Iqbal).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.10.055

Available online xxxx

1364-0321/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Iqbal, J., Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.10.055
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Fig. 3 presents estimated operational stock of industrial robots from

2012 to 2017. The trend of industrial robots' growth of 2013 is
anticipated to be continued in near future as evident from the Figure.
Service robots can either be intended for professional use or for
personal use. Exemplary areas of professional use include defense,
field, logistic and medical. In defense, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAV) [26], demining robots [27], exoskeleton-based robotic suits
[28] are now getting common. Examples of domains where robots are
being deployed in field include agriculture [29], underwater [30], space
[31], nuclear power [32], oil-gas [33] sectors and server robots in
restaurants [34] etc. As an example, Fig. 4a illustrates a tele-operated
bomb disposal robot developed by researchers at RIU, Islamabad. On
the other hand, medical sector gets beneficiated from robots for
rehabilitation [35], motion assistance [36], tele-surgery [37] etc. As
an example, Fig. 4b shows a two-fingered Hand EXOskeleton SYStem-I
(HEXOSYS-I) [38] aimed at hand prosthetics and assistance. The
Fig. 1. A CAD view of a robotic arm welding at a point in a car [24]. device has the capability to exert force levels beyond any existing hand
exoskeleton system [39]. HEXOSYS-II, on the other hand, is a four-
5500
fingered light weight and optimized device targeted to exert force levels
5000 K of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) [40].
For personal use, the service robots are mainly classified in house-
4500
hold robots [43] and entertainment [44] robots. Examples of house-
4000 hold robots include vacuum cleaner, floor washer, pool cleaner, lawn
3500 J
mowers, window washers and massager robots while robotic toys,
electronic pets, phone-powered robots for fun and games and robots
3000 H for puppet shows are examples of entertainment and leisure robots.
I
2500 G IFR statistics disclose that 63,500 service robots for professional
C E
use were sold during the period of 1996–2008. A count of 100,000 has
2000
D been reported for the last 5 years thus demonstrating an accelerating
1500 F rate of increase in sales. The same trend has been forecasted during
B # partial count 2014–2017 as illustrated in Fig. 5. In contrast with service robots for
1000
professional use, the number of robotic toys and hobby systems, owing
500 to their cheap price, is reported as 4.5 million units. The forecast shown
A
0 in Fig. 6 predicts that there will be an exponential increase in this
1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 number in the coming years. For research and education, 3 million
Fig. 2. Estimates of industrial robot's population in US (1970–1980) [25]. robots are estimated to be vended during the period 2014–2017.
It is speculated that by 2025, total number of robots for various
1,200 domains would exceed 50 billion with industrial robots accounting the
Asia/Australia major part [45]. This anticipated trend in the future and growing
1,000
Europe applications of robots have brought up the problem of enormous
America energy consumption which is one of the key design parameters in
overall architecture of a robotic system. For industrial robots, this
800
parameter is crucial due to their extremely higher energy requirements
[46] while in case of field mobile robots; energy consumption is
1000 Units

600 important because of long stand-by and continuous operation of

400
200
0 demands of the robots at the moment are being fulfilled by AC main or
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Fig. 3. Estimated operational stock of industrial robots: 2012–2013 and forecast for
2014–2017 [22].
Federation of Robotics (IFR) disclose that the total number of
industrial robots around the globe has exceeded 1.2 million [22].
Year 2013 witnessed 12% increase in the sales of industrial robots with
178,132 units procured which is so far the highest number of units sold
per year. The estimated market value of robotic systems throughout the
world in 2013 is around $29 billion. Sales of robots to the automotive,
rubber, chemical and food sectors continued to increase in 2013. The
same trend has been observed in the robot installations in electrical/
electronic industry. Based on the proportion of workers and robots, the
top three countries having highest density of robots are from Asia.
robots. At present, industrial robots, which are usually composed up
of a manipulator like fixed structure intended for continuous operation
[47], are three-phase powered. Recent statistics highlighted that one of
the large consumers of energy is manufacturing industry [48]. On the
other hand, service robots generally requiring flexibility in motion
pattern; usually house an on-board battery source. Though, power
2017 batteries, however looking one step farther, scientific community has
started realizing critical side of futuristic robots i.e. to acquire durable
and portable green energy and to dwindle robots' size and weight. This
will also result in minimization of CO2 emission in the production
stage.
Given the dreadful situation in near future, the power supply of
robots may become a bottleneck for their application thus restricting
scientific developments in this multi-dimensional domain.
Highlighting this problem, the present in-depth review highlights a
solution based on renewable energy resources. The application of
renewable energy for robots has not been discussed in much detail
by scientific community. Yang and Zhang briefly commented in [45]
that near future robots will be powered by green energy resources. As
per authors’ knowledge, this is the only study reported to-date on the

2
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 4. Service robots (a) RIU's mobile robot for disposing bombs [41] (b) Exoskeleton robot for rehabilitation and motion assistance [42].
subject matter.
This paper is outlined as follows; Section 2 briefly comments on
robots and their classification based on kinematics and locomotion.
Section 2 presents renewable energy resources that find potential in
meeting robot's power requirements. Robotic systems powered by
renewable energy sources are detailed in Section 4. Section 5 deliber-
ates the scenario of a developing country like Pakistan, which is facing
critical energy crisis can beneficiate with this review. Finally, Section 6
comments on conclusion and highlights the potential benefits of this
review.
2. Robots and their classification
Robots can be either positioned at a fixed location w.r.t. their
operational environment or they can be mobile. The mechanism of
fixed manipulators is generally designed using rigid links while mobile
robots can have variety of locomotion schemes.
2.1. Robotic manipulators
Robotic manipulators comprise of links and joints, which are
normally connected in vertical articulated manner [49]. A manipulator
has three main parts; arm, wrist and hand. The function of arm is to
place an object in a certain location in 3D Cartesian space while the
wrist orients it [50]. The hand, also referred as an end-effector or tool,
is used for object manipulation. Typical performance parameters [51]
of a manipulator includes repeatability, precision, number of DOFs,
joints' Range Of Motion (ROM), payload capacity and operational
workspace in addition to capabilities of its sensing and actuation sub-
systems. Most of the industrial manipulators have 6 or fewer DOFs
with all joints as revolute since the anthropomorphic structure is
reported as the most dexterous one [3].
As an example, a pseudo-industrial robotic platform [52],
Fig. 5. Service robots for professional use. Unit forecast for 2014–2017 [22].
3
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
AUTonomous Articulated Robotic Educational Platform (AUTAREP)
is illustrated in Fig. 7. Powered with 24 V and 5 V supplies connected to
AC mains, the platform is centered on a 6 DOF robotic arm fully
actuated with precise servo motors [53]. The sensing system comprises
of position encoders, tactile sensor and an on-board camera for visual
feedback. Application of the platform to present common industrial
tasks like pick and place and object sorting is presented in [54] while its
control performance is demonstrated in [55–57].
Analysis of energy consumption of a manipulator involves in-depth
study of its kinematics and dynamics [58] in addition to requirements
of the targeted application, placement of objects in robot's workspace
and efficiency of path planning algorithm [59]. A manipulator's
kinematics and dynamics dictate that energy consumption is affected
by inertia tensor of each link and the required torque on each joint
[60]. The energy consumption of an industrial manipulator can be
typically as higher as 5000 W (see Fig. 8) depending upon the robot's
model and configuration. Additionally, the overall power consumption
heavily depends on the selected motion pattern causing the corre-
sponding velocity and acceleration sequences. Studies reported in
[60,61] address analysis and reduction in energy consumption of
industrial robots.
2.2. Mobile robots
Robotic manipulators suffer from a fundamental disadvantage i.e.
lack of mobility. In contrast, a mobile robot would be able to traverse
throughout the manufacturing plant, flexibly applying its talents
wherever it is most effective [62]. Most of the present day applications
require robots to be mobile [63]. Fundamental problems [64,65] in the
domain of mobile robotics include autonomy, collision detection and
avoidance, navigation, localization and path planning. Energy con-
sumption is one of the most critical factors to determine autonomous
navigation of mobile robots particularly in an outdoor environment.
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 6. Service robots for personnel/domestic use: 2012–2013 and forecast for 2014–2017 [22].
Fig. . 7. AUTAREP – An open-source platform realized by researchers of COMSATS
Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan [54].
Most of the reported studies to reduce power consumption in mobile
robots focus motion planning algorithms [66]. However, motion is not
the only consumer of power. Mobile robots often need optimized
design of power solutions in order to take into account various
constraints e.g. on their mass, volume, speed of response and noise.
The locomotion mechanism of mobile robots is based on wheels [67],
tracks [68] or legs.
2.2.1. Wheel based
Wheels devise efficient locomotion strategy and are the most
Fig. 8. Power consumption profile of KUKA robotic arm for a typical trajectory [60]. a and v-%age of max. values of acceleration and velocity. time [s]: Duration of experiments. Energy
[Wh]: Consumed in motion sequence.
4
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
appropriate mean for motion of autonomous mobile robots [69]. For
a Wheeled Mobile Robot (WMR), traversability and mobility and are
two main dynamics for task accomplishment [70].
As an example, Fig. 9(a) shows a four-wheeled robot ‘Wander
ForkerBot’ [71]. Distinguishing feature of the robot is its versatile
sensing and communication capabilities. The sensory system consists
of wheel encoder, Ultrasonic Range Finder (URF), and bump and
temperature sensors while the set of communication modules that are
attached to the robot include Global Positioning System (GPS), Global
System Mobiles (GSM), and Radio Frequency (RF) modules. Custom
designed motor drivers, tested to withdraw a current of 2 A, control the
movement of the robot. With an Ackerman steering mechanism, the
front wheels are actuated with two DC geared motors while a precise
Servo turns the rear wheels.
In comparison with robotic manipulator, WMRs consume less
energy. Energy is consumed in actuators, motion planning and
auxiliary sources like sensory system and on-board electronics. The
total energy consumption in a WMR is given by (1) [72] where first and
second terms indicate energies dissipated in motor's armature resis-
tance and due to wheels friction respectively while the third term
represents the kinetic energy with wheels inertias.
tf tf tf
Kb Kb
EW =Ra ∫ iT idt +Fv
Kt
∫ zT Tq−T Tq−1 zdt +
Kt
∫ zṪ Tq−T J T Tq−1 zdt
t0 t0 t0 (1)
⎡v⎤
where z = ⎢ w ⎥ as v & w are the translational and rotational velocities
⎣ ⎦
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 9. Mobile robots based on: (a) Wheels [71] (b) Tracks [73].
of the robot respectively. i is the current that drives the right and left
motors. Tq is the transformation between the wheels motion and robot
motion. J is the inertia matrix of the motors. Other parameters are
related to values of armature resistance friction coefficient and torque
constant.
2.2.2. Track based
Tracks are an obvious choice of locomotion when encountering with
rough and uneven terrain. In comparison with WMRs, track-based
robots suffer with less slippage/skid and offer more even distribution of
weight. As an example, RObot for Scientific Applications (ROSA) [73]
is illustrated in Fig. 9(b). It is a tank-like track driven mobile robot with
a maximum speed of 20 mm/sec. The sensory system consists of
position encoders while 6 precise DC geared motors with power rating
of 6 W, 3.5 W and 1.2 W form the actuation system.
The issue of power consumption in a track-based robot is more
critical than in WMRs due to higher energy losses as a consequence of
friction between soil and track as well as the slippage [74]. So, the
efficiency primarily depends on steering control of robots. Table 1 lists
power consumption of various components of a tracked robot Auriga-β.
2.2.3. Leg based
Legs offer an adaptable and manoeuvrable mean of locomotion in
rough terrains owing to their higher DOFs. The locomotion is
characterized by a series of point contacts between the robot and the
ground. Primary disadvantages of legged locomotion include huge
power requirements and mechanical complexity. Fig. 10(a) illustrates a
bipedal robot; hybrid Humanoid-Wheeled Mobile Robotic (HWMR)
platform [75], having 17 DOF and four wheels. Powered with 5 V, 6 A
supply connected to AC mains, the objective was to present a novel but
economically affordable educational platform to demonstrate hands-on
concepts of robotics. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in its
ability to transform its shape from a humanoid to a WMR. Other
noticeable features include structural flexibility, design modularity and
open hardware and software architectures. Fig. 10(b) shows a six
legged robot ‘Wander Hexabot’ which exhibits the motion pattern of
tripod gait. It is very compact and stable design which is biased with
5 V regulated source and actuated by four servos.
Table 1
Maximum power consumption of components of Auriga-β [74].
Component Power (W)
Locomotion 3000
Computations 320
Landing platform 60
Communications 40
Sensors 30
5
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
Energy consumption in legged robots is a function of mass
distribution [76], nature of desired gaits [77] and legs configuration
[78]. Due to the pros and cons associated with wheeled and legged
locomotion mechanisms, generally wheels are the choice when opera-
tional environment is a flat ground. On such surfaces, wheeled
locomotion is 1–2 orders of magnitude more efficient than its legged
counterpart [62] as shown in Fig. 11. However, for soft surfaces, legged
locomotion is preferred since it suffers relatively less from inefficiencies
due to rolling friction because of having point contacts with the surface.
This is shown by the drastic increase in power requirements in case of
‘tire on soft ground’.
Energy consumption in a robot is primarily a function of its size and
payload capacity. Assuming a power factor of 0.85, Table 2 shows
average power consumed by an industrial robot as a function of its
payload capacity. Power demands for various categorizes of robots also
vary significantly during a mission. Also, it depends if the robot is static
or mobile.
3. Renewable energy resources
Renewable energy sources supplement the power system of robots.
The main sources which find potential in sharing the power require-
ments include solar, wind and fuel-cells. Other sustainable resources
like Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) [81], hydro [82], ethanol [83] and
natural food [84] can also find suitability for the robots. Fig. 12
illustrates a conceptual view of some of the mentioned resources
powering a wheelchair like robot. The benefit of alternate resources
in robots can be twofold; to power the robot and to recharge the on-
board batteries.
3.1. Solar
The solar radiation flux on earth's surface is 600–1000 W/m2 [86].
Earth receives 84 TW of power from sun every day. An array of solar
cells converts solar energy into electrical energy using Photovoltaic
(PV) effect [87]. PV technique, owing to its distinguishing features like
non-toxic emission, noiselessness, operational simplicity and ease in
maintenance, is dominating among other renewable energies [88].
Today, enhanced efficiency and reduction in cost of PV technology has
led to utilize solar power in numerous practical applications including
powering up the devices. Given the inherent advantages of solar cells in
terms of reliability, solar energy is scalable to meet the electrical
demands [89]. In some regions like Antarctica where sunlight is
abundant, solar power can even contribute up to 40% of the power
available to a robot [90]. In such regions, solar energy can alone
typically provide 160 W to a robot with sun elevation angle of 16° and
clear sky environment [91].
In robots, the electrical output of solar cells is converted into steady
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Fig. 10. Open-source leg-based platforms (a) Humanoid robot [75] (b) Hexabot [71].

Wind energy

Wind to motion
conversion
mechanism

Fig. 12. Schematic explanation of energy flow [85].

Fig. 11. Specific power versus attainable speed of various locomotion mechanisms [79].

sun-tracking systems to maximize output of solar systems are reported

Table 2 in [96,97]. The reported algorithms [98] used in maximum power point
Average power consumed by an industrial robot [80]. tracking (MPPT) of PV array can be classified as; indirect methods i.e.
Robot size Payload capacity Power consumption Cost (1 KWh @5
quasi seeks, direct/true seeking methods and finally Artificial
[Kg] cents) Intelligence (AI) based methods. Examples of AI based methods
include Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) [99], Bacterial Foraging
Small 5–10 1 KVA/1.2 kW 6 cents Optimization (BFO) [100] and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) [101]
Medium 100 5 KVA/6 kW 30 cents
Large 500 10 KVA/12 kW 60 cents
optimization techniques. Other relevant topics of recent research for
solar-powered vehicles include power management [102], speed plan-
ning [103], path planning [104], motion optimization [105], construc-
state DC voltage by charging circuit [92]. Centered on a micro- tion of environment and solar map [106] and trajectory design and
controller or embedded processor, a typical solar-powered robot coverage control [107].
(Fig. 13) consists of panels, tracking mechanism, batteries and charger
in addition to remote monitoring interface and motor drivers [93]. The
on-board controller typically has two main roles [94]; to implement 3.2. Wind
tracking mechanism and to control working of the charger. The
tracking mechanism optimizes utilization of solar power regardless of Wind is an unlimited energy resource that does not need chemical
robot's mobility by adjusting the panel to the desired angle using a DC conversion. The extraction of power from the wind with modern energy
motor and incorporating feedback provided by a light sensor such as conversion systems is an established research domain [108].
Light Dependent Resistance (LDR) [95]. Comprehensive reviews of Translating the research outcomes into industry, machines with a
capacity from tens of watts to several megawatts have been designed.

6
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Fig. 13. Overall scheme of the power management system of a robotic vehicle ‘VANTER’ [94].

Going beyond sailing ships and power wind mills, the wind is now
recognized as a power source for modern land crafts. Studies [31,109]
have confirmed that wind is a viable power source for robotic vehicles
intended for exploration of planets including Mars, Venus and Titan for
extended missions [110]. Now a days, more focus is being given to
altitude wind energy which is found highly efficient [70].
A relatively new wind-driven robotic platform concept is ‘tumble-
weed’. It is a large, wind-blown and inflated ball-like wind-propelled
vehicle, which carries a set of scientific instruments payload [111]. It is
named due to its anatomical resemblance with structural part of a
number of plants’ species. Having spherical or quasi-spherical shape
[112], promising features of tumbleweed include low-mass and rela-
tively inexpensive mechanism. This makes them ideal for deployment
and traversal over a planetary surface with minimal power demands.
Such unmanned and autonomous vehicles also find potential in
carrying a scientific survey in critical environmental conditions e.g.
Antarctic where they are being used to collect useful data related with
temperature, ice thickness, ozone depletion, ground UV intensities and
other topographical figures [113]. Swarm of tumbleweeds can be Fig. 14. System diagram of an inflatable tumbleweed [31].
deployed to conduct randomize and long-range surveys functionally
analogous to traditional sampling based on coordinate-grid. of chemical energy e.g. biofuels which include wood, wood waste, feed
Fig. 14 shows system diagram of a typical inflatable tumbleweed, stock, straw, manure, sugarcane and other by-products from a variety
NASA Mars Tumbleweed [114]. The rover with a diameter of 6 m and of agricultural processes [117]. The basic principle behind working of a
mass 20–40 kg can go up to 25 miles per hour. The rover is covered by fuel cell is energy conversion from chemical to electrical with no
Nylon bags with rubber studs outside. Inside the body, a lexan tube acts intermediate ‘heat to work’ combustion cycle [118]. Usually, fuelled by
as the main shaft, in which a set of electronics devices are housed, hydrogen stored in metal hydrides, the electrochemical reaction results
including a mother board, a LCD, a 900 MHz serial transmitter, an in water and heat as by-products. Ultra-high storage ability of metal
omni-directional antenna, an Iridium modem with GPS receiver, a hydrides [119,120] and noiseless operation involved make fuel cells
lithium battery pack, a Darlington transistor board and an air pump. good candidate for energy source in robotics and industry [121]. A fuel
The sensing system [115], mounted on the motherboard consists of two cell is very similar to a battery in construction i.e. two electrodes
pressure sensors, a thermocouple, three 2-axis accelerometers and a isolated by an electrolyte. However, it consists of ions instead of
Real- Time Clock (RTC). The power system comprises of a Pulse Width electrons with reducing agent (usually Hydrogen) and oxidizing agent
Modulated (PWM) regulator to provide 5 V when given any voltage (usually oxygen) supplied to negative and positive electrodes respec-
between 6–16 V. Inspired by tumbleweed, biomimetic and pendulum- tively [122]. Hydrogen ions obtained by dissociation of hydrogen
based designs are recently proposed [116]. molecules through catalysis, migrate to cathode for reaction with
electrons. A fuel cell has lower energy density (1.33 J/g) as compared
to alkaline batteries (604 J/g). However, the most important difference
3.3. Fuel-cells
between the two is the fact that a cell can provide sustainable energy
supply up to many years as long as the bacteria are alive.
Bioenergy is a type of renewable energy obtained from materials
Fuel cells have significant potential in static applications like
existing in nature or derived from biological sources or Biomass.
electricity generation as well as in portable devices like mobile phones
Biomass is any organic material that can store sunlight in the form

7
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 15. System schematic of a fuel cell-powered robot [129].
[123] and dynamic scenarios like powering electric vehicles [124]. Four
primary types of fuel cell include: solid oxide, carbonate, phosphoric
acid and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) cells [125]. Among
these, PEM cells are reported as most appropriate match for vehicular
applications [126] due to their high power-to-weight ratio, low
sensitivity to orientation and fast startup time [121]. Available in wide
range of sizes [127], these cells can generate DC power for driving the
motors of a vehicle. An evaluation study reported in [128] comments
on bright perspectives of using fuel cells as a power source for mobile
robots. Fig. 15 illustrates schematics of a typical fuel cell-powered
mobile robotic system. The main components include fuel cell stack,
hydrogen storage tank, purge system, DC-DC converter and the robot.
Recently, research community has started realizing hybrid systems
to meet power requirements of the robots. Notable examples include
robotic systems based on solar-wind [130], solar-fuel cell [131,132]
and solar-hydrogen [133] energies.
4. Reported applications of renewable energy resources in
robotics
In robotics, system optimization is a major objective, which
increases the complexity due to uncertain environment and power
limitations [134]. Also, in teleoperated robots, limited power on-board
may lead to communication failure thus deteriorating the control
performance [135]. The future trends are towards achieving energy-
efficient autonomy by opting green energy and designing biomimetic
land/marine/aerial robots [136]. In the automobile industry, more
than 95% work in the sheet metal shop is required to be done by robots
specialized for these repetitive tasks. Because of the high degree of
autonomy and mechanical precision of robots involved, an optimiza-
tion of motion trajectories can result in significant energy and CO2
emission reduction in overall production process [137].
Energy scavenging is another concept used as a renewable energy
and several system designs have shown its prospects for supplementing
the on-board energy of miniature robotic systems [138]. Main renew-
able sources for powering up robots include solar, wind and bio
energies.
4.1. Powered by solar energy
Solar energy can provide a viable renewable energy resource to
meet the energy requirements of remotely operating autonomous
mobile robots [139]. Classical energy sources fail to fulfill these
demands as adequately as solar energy. This is due to the accessibility
limitations associated with conventional energy sources as mobile
robots are normally utilized at inaccessible areas and locations which
are beyond human reach e.g. polar regions of our globe [140]. Research
8
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
Fig. 16. Solar powered NXT robot [142].
has shown that it is possible to power a robot using PV cells for an
average operation time of 11–13 h. The PV charging and storage
solutions are usually expensive compared with using the public power
grid. They are optimal only when there is no access to the power grid
[141]. A typical robot with solar panels, constructed by integrating
LEGO blocks is illustrated in Fig. 16. Solar-powered robots require
optimized designs to cater for required energy density as well as weight
penalty added due to the solar panels [29]. Many design examples exist
for land, air and marine applications where solar power is used as a
primary or hybrid source to meet power requirements of robots.
4.1.1. Land/Terrestrial applications
Common application scenarios of solar-powered robots on land
include agriculture, horticulture and in areas with non-existent trans-
mission lines. In agriculture, such robots with multi-sensor configura-
tion are used in pest control, spraying and harvesting [143,144].
Fig. 17a illustrates a solar-powered, electric driven agricultural robot
Ladybird [145], which is being trialed among spinach, onions and
beetroots rows in Australia. The purpose-built robot is aimed at
assisting farmers in collection of nutritional data, autonomous weeding
and farm surveillance. Conver Inc. introduced the ‘Greenbot’ which is
the first self-propelled vehicle designed specifically for repetitive
operations. This tractor can be used in agriculture, horticulture, golf
courts and municipal sectors [146]. Other apparent opportunities for
solar-powered robots are to use them in north pole [147] and for lawn
mowing. Example of later application is the mower [148] developed by
Husqvarna, which gets energy from 12 W PV solar cell attached to it.
As an alternate source, when sun is not shinning it can use a charge
station on ground to charge its battery. Another recent type of robots
that can find potential in land is BEAM robotics. BEAM is an acronym
for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics and Mechanics [122]. It combines
the biologically inspired mechanics combined with cheap analog
electronics and visual aesthetics. Applications areas of these robots
include rapid prototyping of motion systems, hobby/academics and
household scenarios e.g. to collects garbage in the lower cabinet.
Fig. 17b shows an example of BEAM robot.
In Pakistan, several efforts have been made by researchers in
private/public sector universities in collaboration with industrial
partners to design and operate solar/hybrid vehicles to achieve a
breakthrough in design of low-cost indigenously developed vehicles. In
March 2014, an Islamabad-based engineer developed a solar hybrid car
illustrated in Fig. 17c. It has five transmission gears and can also be
charged with electricity at a rate of 1RS/Km. With a maximum speed of
70–80 km/h., it can travel up to a distance of 80 km once fully charged
[149]. Other noticeable research project is realization of a solar-
powered rickshaw [150] developed by collaborative partnership of
Directorate of Science and Technology (DoST) and CECOS University,
Peshawar. The project with 0.28 Million RS worth is meant to be
implemented across the city by the regional transport department. At
the moment, the green vehicle is under the trial phase before it can ride
the congested streets of the city. The rickshaw can operate without
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 17. Solar-powered vehicles for land applications. (a) Ladybug for agriculture automation [145] (b) BEAM bots [151] (c) Four wheel car developed by a Pakistani engineer [149].
discharge subject to availability of daylight while with a fully-charged
battery; the vehicle can operate for 3–4 h. Another similar project with
of rickshaw [150] and a charging station has been envisaged by
researchers at Iqra University, Karachi in collaboration with Solect Inc.
4.1.2. Air
Solar-powered air vehicles can be used for environment monitoring
e.g. environmental surveillance, monitoring storm development, ana-
lyzing ozone layer and observing changes occurring due to global
warming and assistance in guarding national security e.g. patrolling
borders. Solar-powered UAVs are thought to be ideal for scientific data
sampling designed for High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) missions
[152].
‘Robotic Bat’ [153], shown in Fig. 18a is a 15 cm bat like UAV
developed by researchers from Univ. of Michigan. The aim is to realize
a vehicle which can hover, perch and operate in day/night. Tiny
cameras provide stereo vision and an array of miniature-sized micro-
phones permits location of sounds. The bird is based on energy
scavenging principle which converts solar, wind and vibration energy
to electrical, in order to recharge its miniature lithium batteries. Other
examples of UAVs powered with solar energy include NASA's Helios
[154], Solitair-1 aircraft [140], SoLong UAV/RPV [155] and Odysseus
[156]. The last one is a long endurance UAV measuring 164 feet which
is capable of flying non-stop for five years.
Researchers from RIU, Pakistan in collaboration with Pakistan
Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) [157] presented
Fig. 18. Solar-powered aerial vehicles. (a) Robotic bat [153] (b) Surveillance robot developed by researcher of RIU, Pakistan [157].
9
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
an indigenously-developed solar UAV which can carry a payload of 2 kg
for endurance of 4–5 h. in air with the help of solar charging system. It
sends live video streams during flight and hence named ‘Solar
Surveillance Plane (SSP)’ as shown in Fig. 18b. Another similar project
[158] realized under public-private partnership has been conducted in
Air University (AU), Islamabad and Tesla-PV. Tesla-PV provided high
efficiency solar cells and designed a MPPT controller to achieve
maximized output enough to keep UAV in air for 12 h. The developed
solar vehicle is planned to be commercialized to government depart-
ments for Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) surveillance
purposes [159].
4.1.3. Marine
Solar-powered marine robots find potential in monitoring of
weather and ecosystem, early earthquake and tsunami warning, search
and rescue, water quality management and defense purpose e.g.
monitoring of submarines and unwanted intruders. Although, only
about 5% of the energy striking the ocean surface can penetrate into
water, still this little energy is sufficient for many light-weight marine
robots.
Mola robot [160], illustrated in Fig. 19a, is a noticeable example of
solar-powered aquatic robot, which has been designed to spend most of
its time submerged underwater. Solar energy helps to replace on-board
batteries and can speed up the robot in real-time up to 4 km/h. while
also powering a data logger to record useful data related to physical,
chemical, and biological parameters. Wave glider [161], shown in
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 19. Solar-powered underwater robots. (a) Mola robot [160] (b) Wave glide [161].
Fig. 19b, is another marine robot propelled by solar energy and wave
action and can continuously operate in sea for up to a year. Aimed for
monitoring and surveillance, the robot can function autonomously or
can also be teleoperated from shore. Other relevant examples of robots
include Water glide, Solar breeze [162], SAUVII [163], etc.
In other marine applications, Buoyancy-driven Autonomous
Underwater Vehicles (AUV) are very popular for long endurance
missions [164]. Liquid robotics wave glider is a popular AUV composed
of a buoy and an underwater SONAR sensor array. It is claimed to be
the first unmanned marine robot without any propulsion. The under-
water unit acquires electricity from the wave energy while the floating
buoy uses solar power and wind energy and to transmit sensor data to
the nearby station.
4.2. Powered by wind energy
Wind energy dependent robots are also popular world-wide. These
complex systems are composed of innovative actuators, sensors and
brain to form an open loop robotic system. These walking wind
sculpture are ‘Other forms of life’ that can live and amuse people
visiting beaches. Wind-based marine robotic vehicles have a great
impact in oceanic survey and sampling; collecting scientific data about
ocean processes and marine life [165].
Fig. 20a illustrates famous Jansen's beast which is simply com-
posed of pipes arranged in a novel fashion with wind as driving force
[166]. Another novel surface vehicle (Fig. 20b) [167] that is powered
with Wind, Wave and Solar (W2S) energy is being used by National
Oceanography Centre in UK. These vehicles are unmanned, so the only
communication with the fleet is possible via satellite. Other examples of
wind-powered robots include Drone Sailboat [168] and Solar Tesla-
walking wind sculpture [169].
4.3. Powered by bio energy
An Industrial Mobile Robot Platform (IMRP) can be designed to
run on fuel cells based on a low-pressure metal hydride hydrogen
storage system which is capable of storing more energy on-board
Fig. 20. Wind-powered robots. (a) Theo Jansen's Wind beast [166]. (b) Vehicle powered by W2S energy [167].
10
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
compared to a rechargeable battery [170]. Literature reports few robots
powered with various bio-energy sources. Ecobot-II is powered by
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), which contains a flora of micro-organisms
originated from mud and nourished with dead flies or rotten fruit
[171]. Fuel Cell powered autonomous under water vehicles (AUVs) are
getting popular due to long duration output and greater energy density
as compared to conventional technologies [172].
Fig. 21 illustrates a mobile robot powered with hydrogen fuelled
PEM MFC [129]. Fuel cell stack consists of 10 W–12 W, 10 V–6 V air-
breathing self-humidifying cells. Fuel is stored in a 20 std. litre volume
Metal Hydride cylinder. Unlike battery, 15-min refill was found to be
enough to let the robot going again. Experimental results characteriz-
ing performance comparison demonstrated that the fuel-cell powered
robot exhibit same performance compared to conventional battery.
Table 3 summarizes state-of-the-art of application of renewable
energy resources in the domain of robotics.
5. Case study of Pakistan
Pakistan has energy deficit since years and the energy requirement
is piling up each year due to high population growth rate, poor energy
resource management, circular debt, flaws in demand forecasting and
expanding industrialization [196]. Thus, renewable energy is a valuable
green energy resource for the country [197]. These include solar
energy, biomass energy, wind energy and geothermal energy.
5.1. Renewable energy
Pakistan is known to exist in the “Sun Belt” throughout the year and
due to its geographical location, it is ideally suited to take advantage of
solar energy technologies [198]. This energy source is extensively
disseminated and richly available in the country. Fig. 22a shows an
annual solar resource map of Pakistan. The mean global irradiation
falling on horizontal surface in Pakistan is about 200–250 W/m2 per
day with about 1500–3000 sunlight hours in a year. As per available
statistics, the south-western province of Baluchistan receives the
largest solar energy with an average daily global insulation of 19–
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan
Fig. 21. MFC powered mobile robot [129].
2
20 MJ/m a day with annual mean sunshine duration of 8–8.5 h. Such
conditions are ideal for PV and other solar energy applications [199].
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) describes the daily solar
energy potential for Pakistan as 5.3 KWh/m2 (1.93 MWh/m2 an-
nually), which depicts a great potential in solar resource for the country
[200]. Common applications that explore this potential include solar
desalination plants and solar-based cooking, heating/cooling of build-
ings and drying agricultural products under controlled temperatures
[198]. Solar PV is being utilized to develop standalone telephone
exchanges in remote villages, telecommunication repeater stations,
highway emergency telephones, refrigeration systems for vaccine and
lifesaving medicines in remote hospitals.
The wind map of Pakistan (Fig. 22b), developed by National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) USA in collaboration with
USAID, has indicated a potential of 346 GW of wind energy in
Pakistan [201]. Pakistan has rich resource of wind energy especially
in Baluchistan province (particularly in cities Gawadar and Pasni) and
Sindh province (particularly in Hyderabad). These cities are labelled as
‘Good’ category since wind speeds are in the range of 6.9–7.4 m/s.
Pakistan has long coastal line of about 1046 km where wind density is
very high. The government has set a target of achieving 2500 MW of
electric power generated from wind energy by the end of 2015. To
explore wind potential of the country [202], windmills are now being
manufactured locally. A Karachi-based company, Merin Ltd. is making
and exporting windmills for water lifting. For training purpose, CIIT
developed a windmill in supervision of British engineers. Moving
farther, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has signed a
Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreement with a German company
Fuhrländer to manufacture wind turbines and its accessories locally.
Pakistan has significant bio energy resources, which can be used in
many applications involving biodiesel, biomass and biogas [203].
Biodiesel is being produced from recycled cooking oil, vegetable oil
and animal fats using transesterification. The changes in life pattern
and growing urbanization in Pakistan has resulted in tremendous
quantity of wastes. The waste is being recently used to generate power
through combustion process taking place in specially designed power
plants with a critical emphasis on pollution control strategies. This also
offers other benefits like coping the environmental hazards of trash
disposal and possibility to conserve the non-renewable fossil fuel.
Pakistan being the 5th largest dairy producing and livestock country in
the world has a great potential for biogas which is primarily produced
by optimal utilization of dung and poultry waste. Having biogas
potential of about 150 million m³/day [204], the country has more
than 5357 biogas units installed [196]. An Islamabad-based company,
Bio Energy Technology Application (BETA) Pak is developing domestic
as well as commercial biogas plants in the country. With a cost of 95
Thousands PK RS and capability of generating 10–20 million m³/day,
the company, in collaboration with Small Industries Development
Board (SIDB) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province and Italian
11
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx
government has installed hundreds of these plants in the country.
Biogas powered devices like stoves, heaters, meters, lamps and
purification equipment are not getting common in rural areas of
Pakistan.
At present, various government and non-government organiza-
tional bodies are working to beneficiate public from latest state-of-the-
art in renewable energy technologies [205]. Table 4 lists the main
organizations. Around 10–15 local/foreign companies are offering
their renewable energy products for domestic, industrial, agricultural
and distributed energy solutions [206]. It can be noted that majority of
these organizations focus on Solar (PV/Thermal) technology. Industrial
setups have been installed to manufacture low cost but high perfor-
mance solar panels in order to satisfy the overwhelming demand of the
country [157].
5.2. Robotics
In Pakistan, many universities and research centers are now
involved in robotics R & D to develop various innovative products for
national and sub-continental needs. The awareness has also grown up
in government institutions as well as in private sector to invest in
robotics research primarily because of change in trends in automation
and industrialization. Academia, which is sensitive to national needs
and interests, is playing its active role in two folds; graduate and
postgraduate programs related with Mechatronics/Robotics are being
offered to provide competent engineers that are capable of integrating
robotics with other domains like renewable energy. Secondly, a rapid
growth has been seen in number of robotics competitions and exhibi-
tions at national level which depicts a developing interest in this field.
These competitions are providing key innovative ideas to researchers
and equip students with problem-solving and learning-by-doing ap-
proaches by using robots to perform sophisticated tasks autonomously.
Most important national level robotics/mechatronics competitions
include National Engineering and Robotics Contest (NERC) [213],
Robian, Robosprint and NASCON. As a typical example, Fig. 23
illustrates autonomous line-tracking robots prepared by students of
CIIT, Islamabad in Robian competition.
5.3. Potential opportunities and challenges
The application of renewable energy technology for robots has a
broad perspective. Pakistan being highly rich in nature-gifted renew-
able energy resources has undoubtedly large potential to apply these
opportunities in the domain of various hardware appliances and
mechatronic devices. Indigenously fabricated solar-based hardware
devices include water heater, dryer, space heating system, cooker and
desalination stills [214]. It is now the time to start working on more
sophisticated renewable energy powered systems including robots.
Following suggestions, based on authors' over two decades experience
in robot designing and control, provide potentially useful guidelines:
• The theme of national-level Mechatronics/Robotics competitions
needs to address design and construction of novel robots driven by
sources other than conventional batteries. Solar-powered mobile
robots in an outdoor environment can be a good starting direction in
the start.
• Faculty should arrange seminars for public awareness so as to
emphasize the benefits of green energy and workshops for
Electrical/Mechanical/Mechatronics engineering students to moti-
vate and grasp their interests about robots driven by alternate
energy.
• Multi-disciplinary research essentially involves team work.
Unfortunately, research community in Pakistan lacks coordinated
efforts. Local experts from robotics and renewable energy commu-
nities need to collaboratively envisage goal-oriented projects possi-
bly funded by National Information and Communication
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Table 3
Description of existing robotic systems powered by renewable technologies.

Type Technology Product Year company/University country Features/Description Ref

Solar Land Automover 2013 Husqvarna Germany Solar Hybrid [148]

Cool robot 2006 Dartmouth college USA 4 Wheel Drive, Payload: 15 kg, [173]
Range: 500 km, Pavg: 160 W
Solar robot 2003 UC Berkley USA 10 mg MEMS design [174]
MarXbot 2013 EPFL Switzerland Service robot [175]
Mindstorm NXT 2010 Dexter industries USA Based on LEGO [142]

Aerial/Space Odysseus 2008 Aurora Flight Sciences USA Z-Wing configuration, Endurance [156]
< 5years
Helios 2001 NASA USA Range: 200 km [154]
Helinet 2003 Politecnico di Torino+Consortium Italy/Europe HALE platform for broadband [176],[177]
of 10 industrial partners COM and observation
Zephyr 2006 QinetiQ UK Battlefield COM Relay [176]
Solitaire-I 2006 DLR Germany Solar RPV [140]
Cube Satellite 2014 Miltec Corp USA Satellite [178]
EstCube-1 2014 Univ. of Tartu Estonia Nano Satellite [179]
Solong 2005 AC Propulsion USA 48 h Continuous flight record [176]
PCRET UAV 2013 RIU Pakistan Short range, Live video streaming [157]
Tesla Air 2014 Air Univ. Pakistan Endurance: 12 h [159]

Marine/ Solar Breeze 2014 Solar Pool Technologies USA Pool cleaner [162]
Underwater Water Glider 2012 Liquid Robotics USA Underwater sensing [161]
Mola 2012 AeroVironment USA Bio inspired design, 4 km/h. [160]
speed. No batteries inside
SAUVII 2010 Falmouth USA Solar powered AUV [163]

Wind Land Wind Beast 2001 Strandbeest Netherlands Robotic sculpture [166],[169]
Aerial UoS Glider UAV 2010 Univ. of Sydney Australia Soaring UAV [180]

Marine/Under Marine Robotic Vehicle 2014 National Oceanography Centre UK Wind, Wave and Solar (W2S) [167]
water energy
Drone Sailboats 2013 Marine Coast Guards USA Sail Drone [168]

Bio/Fuel Land Sun tracker 2011 Texas A & M Univ. USA SMA actuated [181]
Cell/ Gastrobot 2000 Univ. of South Florida USA Food powered [84]
SMA MechBot 2006 Queen's University Canada PEM fuel cell [182]
WMR 2013 DGIST Korea PEM fuel cell [183]
IMRP 2013 Univ. of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa Solar hydrogen powered [170]
Ecobot II 2005 Bristol Robotics Lab UK MFC [171]

Aerial/Space Robotic Bat 2013 Univ. of Michigan USA Biomemetics [153]

Quadrotor 2011 Microkopter Germany PEM fuel cell [184]
Helios HP03 2003 NASA USA Lyntech Gen IV 5 kW stack+Solar [172,185]
HyFish UAV 2007 Horizon German/ Hydrogen fuel cell powered jet [186],[185]
Singapore
Spider lion UAV 2005 Protonex USA ProCore fuel cell [187]
Radiant Coral 2011 EnergyOr India 310-XLE [188]
Technologies UAV

Marine Hugin 3000 2000 Kongsberg Simrad AS/C & C Norway/USA Alkaline Aluminium hydrogen [189,190]
Technologies, Louisiana peroxide semi-fuel cells
DeepC 2004 STN ATLAS Elektronik Germany Hybrid battery-PEM fuel cell [185],[191]
Urashima 2004 JAMSTEC and Mitsubishi Heavy Japan Hybrid battery- Fuel cell [192]
Industries
Second Generation Long 2013 JAMSTEC and Mitsubishi Heavy Japan HEML fuel cell [185]
Cruising AUV Industries
HUGIN 1000 2004 Kongsberg Maritime Norway Polymer batteries [193]
Dragon 2009 Engineering, Tianjin Univ. China PEM fuel cell [194],[185]
IDEF AUV 2009 Ifremer France PEM fuel cell (Helion) [195]

Technologies (ICT) R & D fund.
• The curriculum of Graduate programs in Mechatronics engineering
may also include an optional course on renewable energy technology
targeted for the interested students.
• As the industrialization presses forward, local industry needs to
actively promote manufacturing of small scale components like solar
panels so that robotic kits for teaching and training of renewable
energy powered robots can be indigenously developed at affordable
cost.
• With the development of renewable energy technology, scientists all
over the world are making successive progress in the application of
renewable energy technology for robots. Pakistan needs to develop
robust partnerships with developed countries to learn from their
experiences in realizing modern robots. The first step could be to
invite the designers of commercially available renewable energy
powered robots in Pakistan to give talks on the subject matter and to
discuss possibilities of MOUs.
• On governmental level, explicit policies to integrate renewable
energy technologies in various application domains need to be
revised. Coordination mechanism among various ministries should
also be improved. The suggestions mentioned above involve harmo-
nization among Ministries of Natural Resources, Scientific &

12
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Fig. 22. Pakistan renewable energy resource [207]. (a) Solar (b) Wind.

Technological Research, Education, Industries & Production and environmental friendly nature is an obvious choice to reduce carbon
Environment. signature in industrial/automation domains and robotics is not an
exception. Pursuing technologies aimed at realizing green and energy-
efficient power sources for billions of robots of future is a big challenge
6. Conclusion for robotics community. This review discloses a cross-section of the
current state of robotics research from one particular aspect: renewable
Renewable energy, also known as ‘Green energy’, because of its

13
J. Iqbal, Z.H. Khan Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews xx (xxxx) xxxx–xxxx

Table 4
List of institutions working in renewable energy sector in Pakistan.

Institution Technologies Affiliation Ref

Solar Thermal/PV Wind Biogas/Biomass Mini/Micro Fuel Cell Govt NGO

Hydel
ST SPV BG BM

Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) √ √ √ – – – – √ – [208]

Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) √ √ √ √ √ √ – √ – [157]
National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM)/Solar √ √ – – – – – √ – [199]
Energy Centre (SEC)
Clean Development Mechanism- Pakistan √ √ √ √ √ – √ √ – [209]
Pakistan Renewable Energy Society (PRES) √ √ √ √ √ – √ – √ [210]
Pakistan Domestic Bio gas programme – – – √ √ – – – √ [211]
Renewable & Alternative Energy Association of Pakistan (REAP) √ √ √ √ √ √ √ – √ [159]
Solarization Welfare Project (SWO) √ √ – – – – – – √ [212]

authorities in Pakistan as well as other developing countries to apply

potential of renewable energy resources in robotics.

References

Fig. 23. Mobile robots developed by students in ‘Robian’ competition during Spring
2013 competition organized by CIIT, Islamabad, Pakistan.
energy applications. It discusses various renewable resources as power
supplies for robotic systems whether they operate on land, in water or
fly in air. The application of renewable energy technology brings about
green energy to the robot technology, realizes the un-interruptible
power supply for robots, and reduces the size and weight of robots. This
study shows that for sustainable energy solutions, it is more likely to
use renewable sources to design power solutions for applications like
emergency robotics, healthcare and remote assistance, service robots as
well as for surveillance and monitoring tasks. Renewable energy can
serve as a preferred option for autonomous robotic power source where
long range and endurance is an important mission parameter.
Certain limitations and challenges are encountered when consider-
ing the application of renewable energy in robotics. Power requirement
of industrial robotic systems is quite large and can momentarily exceed
to MW ranges during continuous operation. In case of service robots,
long duration operation maybe required during day/night thus requir-
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robot has to carry its power source, higher energy density per m2 is
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is expected that in the next 30 years, this cost will be reduced
considerably.
Learning lessons from developed countries, the renewable energy is
also very useful and practical choice for technology developers in
context of Pakistan. Pakistan with its geographical history and present
socio-economic condition requires more investment in search, rescue
robotics as well as in renewable energy. Combining both these streams
can result in extra benefits with low cost highly sustainable solutions.
Suggestions outlined in this article can be helpful for concerned
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