These bots are narrow enough to move through small spaces and cluttered areas (Photo via L.A. Cicero & Stanford)
Robots have a lot of movement and capabilities, but ever think they can actually grow? A team of scientists has created a soft robot inspired by plants that “grow” as a way of movement. Plants have the ability to adapt to their surroundings in order to receive the nutrients they need. Think about ivy climbing up brick walls. The scientists took this as inspiration and wondered how to apply it to robotics. As a result, they invented a soft robot that can “extend from its tip to thousands of times its original body length at a speed comparable to animal and robotic locomotion.” Watching it move, it looks like a weird worm.
The team published their findings in the Science Robotics journal. According to Joey Davis Greer, one of the authors, they turned to nature as a source of inspiration for various reasons. Having a bot that mimics plant movement allows its length to be increased on the order of 1,000 percent. It also has the ability to move around its environments with ease. No matter how congested the area, this bot should be able to navigate through it with little trouble.
The robot is equipped with a camera and several on board sensors. It can maneuver through its surroundings autonomously at a speed up to 22 miles per hour. Pressure is what allows it to move; the robot’s tip extrudes new material as its pressurized making it grow. This process is called tip eversion. The tip of the robot wiggles around while the other half stays fixed at its base. As if that didn’t sound creepy enough, the bot can slither its way through narrow spaces and lift or push objects or form a fire hose or radio antennae.
It can lift or push items using pressure inside its body that’s flushed out as it grows. The pressure inside the bot isn’t high, but because it comes in contact with a lot of surface area, it can lift a good amount. For instance, if a robot has an interior pressure of three pounds per square inch, it can lift 300 pounds if the weight were resting on a 100-square inch crate. Don’t know about you but that sounds like something out of a horror movie.
It sounds promising and unnerving, but the team has already run into a kink. According to Greer, they found that the bot can’t seem to stop growing once it’s pressurized. “If there is a way it can extend, it probably will,” Greer tells the Verge.
The team will continue working on the bot and will tweak its scale and materials. So, what exactly does the team think this bot will be useful for? They believe it’ll be useful in situations that require navigation through cluttered areas, like disaster zones and even the human body. In the paper, they claim is may even be able3 to guide a medical catheter. You probably won’t see too many people lined up to be the first patient.
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