Plants are able not only to grow, but also know how to overcome very difficult obstacles. Not only trees, but also the usual flowers or grass often make their way even through the concrete, sprouting and weaving through the cracks and finding other loopholes. These amazing properties of plants have inspired developers who have created robots that can eventually increase in size.
Like ordinary plants, robots attached to a specific place, its base immovable, but the housing could grow significantly if necessary — in order to increase in size, the device uses a special material that has extruded from a special container, which is equipped with design. Does this “growth” due to the pressure inside the body of the robot.
If the robot is equipped with cameras and sensors, it will be able for example to detect people under the rubble and lifting heavy plate or to clear the blockage.
“The rise of the robots studied not very good, so we are working in this direction. Length of the robot increases by a thousand percent, while it is able to adapt and act in their environment, so human intervention in his work is almost not needed. One of the interesting features of the robot — its craving for growth. So if he has the opportunity to grow even a little, it probably will be,” says Joey Davis Greer, one of the authors.
Soft robots can be a good tool in some situations, so engineers working in this direction. Not so long ago, Japanese scientists have created a robot, in its properties resembling a balloon. It is driven by a pump, the bilge and pumped into the air.
Designed able to grow flexible robots
Vyacheslav Larionov