Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Gummi Bots: Biomimetic Soft-Bodied Robots
Biomimetic soft-bodied robots are the result of a robotics project at Tufts University. Researchers like Barry Trimmer are gathered from many different fields; Trimmer's field is neurobiology, and his studies of the tobacco hornworm provide unaccustomed lessons for roboticists.
(The Biomimetic Technologies for Soft-bodied Robots project)
Hard-bodied, rigid mechanical robots have many limitations; their joints limit range of motion. The Tufts researchers are looking into robots with a skin made of a silicone rubber (brand name: Dragon Skin). The soft-bodied robots wriggle forward with springs embedded in the silicone rubber segments. As a current is passed through a spring, it contracts, bending the robot.
In this way, the "Gummi Bot" (that's my name for them - TM Technovelgy.com!) can wriggle forward like a caterpillar. So far, researchers have been able to propagate a ripple of movement the length of the robot's body. By the end of the year, the team hopes to have full caterpillar motion.
The eventual design goal is to have soft-bodied robots that are able to perform disagreeable tasks in the field, like looking for land mines or finding their way into hard-to-reach spaces in dangerous environments (like nuclear reactors or space craft).
The Tufts researchers would do well to take a look at some of these other soft-bodied and biomimetic research robots:
- Soft Robot Powered By Shape Memory Alloy Spokes
- Snake-Arm Robot In A Plane
- Snake Robot Roundup!
- Snake-Arm Robots From OCRobotics Reach Out
Via NYTimes (registration required).
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/27/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.' - Aldo Giunta, 1957
Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said. - Pournelle and Niven, 1981.
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...' - Philip K. Dick, 1955.
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said.
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.'
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?'
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
