Taking inspiration from the way reptile and mammal limbs are structured but without their characteristic rigidity, the palm-sized robots feature a combination of semi-soft links and soft joints that enable them to move more naturally and handle rough terrain more effectively.
Source: Nitin Sanket
Further, these new robots, thanks to their soft joints, can move more smoothly and adapt more easily to surface irregularities. Likewise, the robots are incredibly resilient, withstanding impacts, navigating rough terrain and recovering after being crushed.
The team noted that using a setup of several 3D printers and multiple materials, it’s potentially possible to manufacture hundreds of these semi-soft robots in the span of a single day.
The developers of these robots suggest that they could one day be used in rescue operations where they would provide supplies and communication, or in wildfire-ravaged areas to perform tasks such as mapping toxic contamination, searching for survivors and identifying areas where fire is spreading quickly.
These 3D-printed robot swarms might, in the future, be used to clear landmines, conduct earthquake search and rescue missions, and perform agricultural tasks such as pest control and soil monitoring.
The tiny robots are detailed in the article, “A framework for soft mechanism driven robots,” which appears in the journal Nature Communications.
