To develop a new artificial muscle for robots MIT researchers are taking inspiration from an unlikely source – the cucumber. It's not the fruit of the plant, but the tendrils that wrap themselves around solid objects to support the growing plant by coiling and pulling with surprising force.
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We've seen robots that can walk, trot, run, and even do backflips, but now a student team is working on a rover robot prototype that is designed to travel in lunar gravity by controlled bounds into space where all four legs leave the ground.
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In a demonstration that less can be more, EPFL scientists are working on simple robots that behave and cooperate like ants. The 10-g (0.35 oz) Tribots are folded like origami, but have the ability to be assigned roles and work together on complex tasks as they jump and crawl over uneven terrain.
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A team of engineers in Germany has created a tiny jellyfish-inspired robot, which can not only swim, but transport objects, mix fluids and even bury itself. It's hoped the five millimeter tetherless "jellyfishbot" could help us understand the survivability of baby jellyfish in changing environments.
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NASA has awarded Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic a US$5.6 million contract to build a new suitcase-sized robotic lunar rover that could land on the Moon as soon as 2021. The 24-lb MoonRanger rover is designed to operate autonomously on week-long missions within 0.6 mi of its lander.
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All living things are built with 20 amino acids in myriad combinations, so why not machines and robots? This is the inspiration for a novel fabrication method using a handful of multi-use parts to create all manner of tiny machines. Machines who eventually, may even be able to build themselves.
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NASA's Mars 2020 rover now has its arm. On June 21, 2019, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, began attaching the intricate robotic arm and hand that the unmanned explorer will use to search for signs of past and present life on the Red Planet.
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Scientists at Linköping University have developed an artificial muscle that runs off of glucose and oxygen like its organic counterpart. Made of a special polymer, the new plastic muscles open the promise of implantable artificial muscles that can be powered by like living organs.
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A team of engineers at Cornell has built a robotic fish powered by electric blood, which not only serves as an energy source, but acts hydraulically to create propulsion as well. This bio-inspired approach addresses one of the great challenges for small, untethered robots – mass vs. power.
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Nobody wants to get near nuclear waste, so a team of engineers is developing a new semi-autonomous robotic system to help dismantle decommissioned reactors. The two-armed mobile robot can identify, grasp, and cut objects like pipes without the operator having to control every movement.
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