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A New Class of Inflatable Robots By OtherLab
HizookRobotics writes "Inflatable robots have the potential to be low-cost, lightweight, extremely powerful, and yet 'human safe' — in other words, perfect for many robotics applications. Here are two new examples: a 15-foot-long walking robot (a Pneubot named Ant-Roach) and a complete, inflatable robot arm (plus hand). Both of these robots were developed by Otherlab as part of their 'pneubotics' project (in collaboration with Meka Robotics and Manu Prakash at Stanford University), with some funding from DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program. These robots use textile-based, inflatable actuators that contract upon inflation into specially-designed shapes to effect motion. Since these robots are built out of lightweight fabric-and-air structural members and powered via pneumatics or hydraulics, they exhibit large strength-to-weight ratios. For example, Ant-Roach is less than 70 lbs and can probably support up to 1000 lbs; the inflatable robot arm is less than 2 lbs and can lift a few hundred pounds at 50-60 psi."
They could make a blow up doll that could morph into an armchair or something else innocuous to disguise itself.
Lightweight, dextrous, "safe" and strong... Granted, it's not got the full range of motion a human arm needs, yet, but this is interesting work. A small pneumatic compresser should be belt- or backpack-mountable, and then it would just need the control and processing electronics. Admittedly that's still kind of a big problem, but at a limb weight of 2lbs, this technology could be an interesting alternative to the "full-metal" approach of current limbs.
:D > £/$