Scientists from Georgia Tech recently presented an impressive achievement: A 5-inch soft robot that can catapult 10 feet in the air-basketball-no legs. The design was inspired by a modest nematode, a small thinner star than human hair, which can jump many times body length.
Daming his body in tight breaks, the worm stores elastic energy, and then suddenly releases it, throwing heaven or backwards like an acrobatic gymnast. Engineers imitated this movement. Their “softjm” robot is essentially a flexible silicone rod with a stiff carbon skeleton. Depending on how it bends, he can jump forward or backwards – even if there are no wheels or legs.
In the action, the robot inspired by the nichek will roll up like a crust of a person, and then there is no jump. A fast camera shows how the worm screams his head and breaks down in the middle of the body to jump back, and then straightens and breaks the tail to jump forward.
The Georgia Tech team said that these tight turns – usually a problem in snakes or cables – in fact allow a worm and a robot shop much more energy. As one of the researchers noted, broken straws or snakes are useless, but the broken worm acts like a loaded spring. Soft robot in the laboratory duplicate This trick: “pinches” in the middle or tail, tightens, and then releases in the explosion (about one tenth millisecond) to glider in the air.
Soft works are growing
Soft Robotics is a young, but rapidly growing field, which often accepts tips from nature. Unlike rigid metal machines, soft works are made of flexible materials that can squeeze, stretch and adapt to the environment. Early milestones in the field include Harvard octobot – Autonomous robot made entirely of silicone and liquid channels, without stiff parts, inspired by the octopus muscles. Since then, engineers have built a managerial of soft machines: from worms reminiscent of worms and jelly grippers to worn “ex-sit” and rolling robots resembling vines.
For example, Yale scientists have created a soft robot inspired by a turtle, whose legs switch between floppy disks and hard “land legs” depending on whether it is swimming or walking. In UCSB, scientists have created a vine-like robot, which grows towards light using only light-sensitive “skin”-it is possible to stretch into narrow spaces like a stalk of plants. These and other innovations inspired by BIO show how soft materials can create new ways of movement.
In general, supporters say that soft robots can not go to traditional robots. . National Science Foundation notes These adaptive soft machines “explore previously unattainable spaces through traditional robots” – even inside the human body. Some soft robots have programmable “skins” that change stiffness or color to blend or grab objects. Engineers also study origami/kirigami techniques, shape polymers and other tricks, thanks to which these works could reconfigure in flight.
Flexible engineering movement
Making a soft robot moving like an animal is associated with big challenges. Without hard ponds or engines, designers must rely on material properties and clever geometry. For example, the Georgia Tech jumper had to contain a carbon fiber spine to the rubber body to make the spring effect strong enough. The integration of sensors and control systems is also difficult. How Indicate Penn State engineersTraditional electronics is stiff and freezes soft work on the spot.
In order for their tiny creeping “intelligent” rescue robot, they had to carefully spread the flexible circuits on the body so that it could still bend. Even finding energy sources is more difficult: some soft robots use external magnetic fields or pressure air, because wearing a heavy battery would burden them.
Soft robots inspired by a neaty with Georgia Tech (photo: Candler Hobbs)
Another obstacle is the use of proper physics. The Nematode-Robot team learned that the breakdowns actually help. In a normal rubber tube, the collapse quickly stops the flow; But in a soft worm, it slowly builds internal pressure, enabling much more bending before release. Experimenting with simulations and even water -filled balloon models, scientists have shown that their flexible body can accommodate a lot of flexible energy after bending, and then release it in one fast jump. The result is amazing: the robot can repeat 10 feet from rest, simply the tension of the spine. This breakthrough – finding ways to do it store AND release Energy in rubber materials – are typical for soft robotics engineering.
Real pouring and helpers
What are all these soft works for? Basically, they can deal with too dangerous or awkward situations in the case of rigid machines. For example, in disaster zones, soft bots can unscrew under rubble or in collapsed buildings to find survivors. Penn State showed a magnetically controlled soft edge that could move on tight impurities or even move through the blood size channels.
In medicine, microscopic soft robots can provide drugs directly in the body. In one study, a thin soft robot was anticipated to float through the arteries and clear clots, potentially healing impacts without open surgery. Scientists from Harvard are also working on soft exoskeletons to wear – a light inflatable sleeve that helped ALS patients lift his arm, immediately improving their range of motion.
Space agencies also look at soft jumps. The wheels can get stuck on the sand or rocks, but the jumping robot can bury the craters and dunes. NASA even imagines innovative jumpers on the moon and ice -like moons. In one concept, called football SPARROW He would use steam jet (from cooked ice) to jump many miles through Europe or Enceladus. In the low gravity of these moons, a small jump goes on a very long path-scientists notice that one method of robot on earth can move it one hundred meters to enlinadus. The point is that dozens of these funnels can tear in foreign areas “with complete freedom of travel”, in which Wheed rovers would stop. After returning on the ground, the soft jumpers came to help in search and save missions by jumping over rivers, mud or unstable ground that would stop conventional robots.
Soft robots also find work in the industry and agriculture. NSF indicates that they can become safe helpers on factory floors or on a farm, because they are consistent if a person is on the road. Scientists have even built soft grippers, which gently collect delicate fruit, not bruise. The flexibility of soft machines means that they can work too small or flexible for rigid devices.
Ultimately, experts believe that soft robotics will generally change many areas. From worms to carrier to wearing, to lunar left, this research thread shows how the study of small creatures can bring large jumps in technology.
