By Jonathan Webb Science
reporter, BBC News
25 August 2016
US engineers have built the first
ever self-contained, completely soft robot - in the shape of a small octopus.
Made from silicone gels of
varying stiffness, the "octobot" is powered by a chemical reaction
that pushes gas through chambers in its rubbery legs.
Because of this design, the robot
does not need batteries or wires - and contains no rigid components at all.
Instead, a sequence of limb
movements is pre-programmed into a sort of circuit board built from tiny pipes.
These movements aren't good
enough, yet, to send the octobot out for a stroll; instead it sits in one place
and pumps alternating legs up and down in a very slow, eight-legged can-can.
But because that dance is powered
purely by the robot's internal pneumatic system, the Harvard researchers -
writing in the
journal Nature - say their system marks a key step forward
for soft robotics.
"Many of the previous
embodiments required tethers to external controllers or power sources,"
said PhD student Ryan Truby from Harvard University.
"What we've tried to do is
actually to replace these hardware components entirely and have a completely
soft robotic system."
The hope is that one day, soft
robots will wiggle
their way into awkward surgical locations or squeeze
under obstacles on search-and-rescue missions.
Real-world tasks like these,
particularly if they involve human interaction, are challenging or even impossible
for conventional, rigid robots - which are much more comfortable in the
structured, repetitive environment of the factory floor.
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