New Atlas

Robotics Audio available

Robotic arm taste tests its own bathwater for dangerous chemicals

Nick Lavars June 26, 2019

We’ve seen robots that can respond to touch and voice commands, but what about a robot with a sense of taste? A new experimental device is built to explore this possibility, and in its current form can already perform a little taste test to see if its bathwater has been contaminated.

A new type of robotic arm has the ability to "taste" for specific chemicals

Robotics Audio available

Soft-bodied robot could soon be climbing up to your door

Ben Coxworth May 28, 2019

Although we've seen a lot of robots designed to deliver packages to people's homes, most of those bots are stymied by houses' front steps. Tokyo-based Amoeba Energy is developing a solution, in the form of a tracked robot that uses soft foam to easily climb up stairs and over other obstacles.

Amoeba Energy's prototype robot, about to climb a set of stairs at ICRA 2019

Robotics Audio available

Harvard researchers speed up snake-inspired kirigani robot

Darren Quick April 22, 2019

Last year, a Harvard team revealed a snake-inspired soft robot that harnessed the ancient Japanese art of kirigami to create pop-up scales that allowed the robot propel itself along as it stretches and contracts. Now some tweaks have given the robot boosts in both speed and precision.

Researchers at Harvard have enhanced the speed and accuracy of their snake-inspired soft robot by changing ...

Robotics Audio available

MIT's new robotic gripper works like a Venus fly trap

Nick Lavars March 14, 2019

From green blobs to boa constrictors, scientists have taken inspiration from some interesting sources in pursuit of robotic arms that can delicately lift heavy items. The latest solution from MIT resembles a venus flytrap in the way its snatches up objects many times its own weight.

The Magic Ball gripper consists of a skeleton made from cone-shaped origami structure that is connected ...

Science Audio available

LED-packin' caterpillars may lead to better-moving squishy robots

Ben Coxworth January 7, 2019

Caterpillars are able to crawl across a wide variety of surfaces, they can move in any orientation, and they're flexible – traits that would also make for good soft-bodied robots. With that in mind, scientists have recently taken an interesting approach to analyzing just how the creatures move.

A tobacco hornworm caterpillar (lower right) in the circular treadmill used in the study

Robotics

Peacock spider inspires small, soft, fluid-powered robots

Michael Irving August 7, 2018

If robots are ever going to work alongside humans in the real world, they're going to need a softer touch. Harvard researchers have developed a new method for producing small-scale squishy robots, and demonstrated it by creating a flexible robotic peacock spider, driven by a microfluidics system.

A Harvard team has developed a new method to make tiny, soft robot spiders, powered by ...

Robotics

Popcorn used to power cheap soft robots

Ben Coxworth August 3, 2018

Back in 2010, researchers from Cornell University helped develop a robotic gripper that was stuffed with coffee grounds. Now, a Cornell team has done the next logical thing, and built soft-bodied robotic devices that are filled with and activated by popcorn.

Robotics

Soft gripper handles sea creatures with kid gloves

Ben Coxworth August 2, 2018

If you're trying to catch delicate creatures such as sea slugs via remote control, you're certainly not going to use steel pincers designed for use in the oil and mining industries. It was with this in mind that a Harvard team recently developed an underwater robotic gripper that has a soft touch.

A three-finger version of the soft gripper

3D Printing

Morphing 3D-printed objects move by magnetism

Ben Coxworth June 14, 2018

Some day, it may be possible for tiny squishy robots to make their way through people's bodies, without being tethered to an external power supply or control unit. We've recently gotten a step closer to that being a reality, thanks to 3D-printing tech that produces magnetically-responsive devices.

This 3D-printed magnetic device is capable of crawling, rolling, snatching a passing ball, and even enveloping ...

Materials

3D-printed hydrogel humanoid goes for an underwater walk

Michael Irving May 20, 2018

Hydrogels could make for robots that are more flexible, safer to be around and simpler to build and use. Now researchers at Rutgers University have developed a smart gel that can be 3D printed into a variety of shapes, and electrically-activated to make it “walk” underwater, grab and move objects.

Rutger University researchers have created a humanoid figure out of a smart gel that can walk ...