We value your privacy

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies.

Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

avatar
admin
 Pinned June 12, 2019

<> Embed

@  Email

Report

Repin Zoom
Uploaded by user
Simpler, air-powered soft robots could help with space exploration
<> Embed @  Email Report

Simpler, air-powered soft robots could help with space exploration

Jon Fingas, @jonfingas

June 02, 2019
 

Simpler, air-powered soft robots could help with space exploration | DeviceDaily.com

 
 
Soft robots promise a kinder, gentler approach to automation, but they’re frequently hamstrung by complexity, costs and the need for wires. Thankfully, Harvard researchers have found a way to simplify matters. They’ve developed a softrobot driven by pressurized air that doesn’t need the multiple control systems that frequently guide these machines. A lone input pumps air to the robot’s legs through tubes of different sizes, which determines how those legs behave. If you want the robot to crawl forward, you just have to send air through the right set of tubes.

The test bot is just a simple cross-shaped quadruped, and it currently needs an external source of air. You’re not about to see one in the wild any time soon. However, the simplicity and reduced parts could make it practical for all kinds of tasks where soft robots were either impractical or had to be tethered, such as space exploration or search and rescue. They could scramble across rough terrain without as much caution as more fragile conventional robots, and could be more affordable — important if anything does go wrong.

Engadget RSS Feed

(41)