Soft-bodied Robot Snakes Are the Future of Robo-snakes

We have seen plenty of robot snakes before. Sometimes they climb trees, or slither in the grass, maybe take a swim in the pool. I’m always on the lookout for them, since I know they will strangle me if they catch me off guard. But now things are just getting crazy. Soft snakes are coming! This shiz just got real!

soft snake
This prototype is powered by air and can attain amazing speeds up to 19 millimeters per second. It’s muscles are tiny tubes made from soft polymers that line the snake’s four segments. The on-board computer in the tail controls a compressor that changes air pressure in the elastomer tubes, mimicking a snake’s movement.

So when air passes through the body, it creates a wave. Valves at the joints open and close to make it undulate. Yeah, stuff just got wayyyy more creepy. I look forward to it’s soft skin around my neck as it squeezes. The upside is that the softer the skin, the easier it is to slice with a knife. How do you like that soft snake?

Haha. Soft snake. Sounds like you’re just pushing rope. Bring it on.

[via Botropolis]

Harvard soft robot explodes into action, jumps 30 times its height (video)

Harvard soft robot explodes into action, jumps 30 times its height video

Harvard University has pushed its soft robot concept in strange directions, but an exploding robot? That takes the cake. A new three-legged, silicone-based variant of the robot is filled with methane and oxygen that, when jolted with electricity, explode and trigger violent pressure that pushes the limbs off the ground. As you’d imagine, the results weren’t exactly timid during testing — the example robot jumped over 30 times its body height, and it would have jumped higher if not for additional tubing holding it down in the lab. The power easily eclipses that of pure air, and could be vital to rescue robots or other public safety machines that could very literally leap to someone’s aid. Don’t anticipate exploding automatons on the streets anytime soon. We’ll just be glad that, if they do arrive, they’ll be trying to help us rather than kill us.

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Via: Gizmag, New Scientist

Source: Wiley Online Library