A “brainless” soft robot that can navigate more complex and dynamic environments has been developed by researchers who previously developed a soft robot that can navigate simple mazes without the help of a human or computer. The paper, titled “Physically Intelligent Autonomous Soft Robotic Maze Escaper,” was published Sept. 8 in the journal Science Advances.
“In our previous work, we showed that our soft robot could spin its way through a fairly modest obstacle course,” says Jie Yin, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University and co-author of a publication on the subject. However, he could not turn unless he encountered a barrier. In real terms, this meant that the robot could occasionally become trapped when jumping between parallel obstacles.
“We have created a new soft robot that can rotate itself, allowing it to navigate twisting mazes and even maneuver around moving obstacles. Also, everything is handled by physical intelligence rather than being directed by a computer.
As opposed to being controlled by a computer or human, the behavior of dynamic objects with physical intelligence, such as soft robots, is determined by their structural arrangement and the materials from which they are constructed.
The new soft robots are made of ribbon-like liquid crystal elastomers, just like the previous iteration. When the robots are placed on a surface with a temperature of at least 55° Celsius (131° Fahrenheit) that is warmer than the surrounding air, the part of the strip that touches the surface compresses, while the part exposed to air does not. This causes the robot to roll; The faster the robot rolls, the hotter the surface becomes.
The new robot has two separate halves, unlike the previous iteration of the soft robot, which had a symmetrical form. The robot consists of two halves, one shaped like a loosely twisted ribbon running in a straight line, the other like a more tightly twisted ribbon that spirals around itself.
Due to its asymmetrical shape, one end of the robot hits the ground harder than the other end. Consider a plastic cup whose mouth is larger than its base. When you roll something on a table, it creates an arc instead of rolling in a straight path. This is because the shape is asymmetrical.
According to researcher Yao Zhao, “the idea behind our new robot is quite simple: due to its asymmetrical design, it rotates without having to come into contact with an object.” So, while he can traverse mazes and change direction when he 'contacts' an object, he cannot get stuck between parallel objects. Instead, it can effectively wriggle free thanks to its capacity to move in arcs.
The researchers showed that the asymmetric soft robot design could squeeze into spaces narrower than its body size and negotiate more challenging mazes, such as sliding barriers. The new robot design was tested by researchers in sand and on a metal surface. Below is a video showing the asymmetrical robot in action:
According to Yin, this work brings us one step closer to helping us create new soft robot design strategies, especially for applications where soft robots can harvest thermal energy from their environment.
Source: techxplore
📩 10/09/2023 13:52