New 'Rubber Robot' Crawls Through Small Spaces With Inflatable Limbs

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 1, 2011 @08:28AM from the new-nightmare dept.

JoeRobe writes "Researchers at Harvard have developed a pneumatically-controlled rubber robot that combines undulation and quadrupedal 'crawling,' allowing it to maintain a low profile while moving. In a paper published in PNAS (abstract), they describe it as a 'soft robot, composed exclusively of soft materials (elastomeric polymers), which is inspired by animals (e.g., squid, starfish, worms) that do not have hard internal skeletons.' The robot is solely powered by relatively low pressure (10 psi), and controlled by 5 pneumatic actuators. The research was funded by DARPA." The paper is also available (not paywalled) from the researchers' project site (PDF), complete with more creepy images of the squidbot.

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I, for one, by greywire · 2011-12-01 08:32 · Score: 5, Funny

welcome our.. oh never mind.

--
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
Wow! by Moheeheeko · 2011-12-01 08:35 · Score: 5, Funny

One step closer to the sex robot, better get my money ready.
1. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-12-01 09:01 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Do they make one in a gerbil shape?
more than one by recharged95 · 2011-12-01 08:39 · Score: 1, Funny

New rubber, inflatable robot... needs 2nd robot to follow it and provide air lines for power source.
Still--this has real applications....
Re:Yes, but... by CRCulver · 2011-12-01 09:07 · Score: 4, Funny

How do you get it back out of your body?

Just don't tell the doctor that you slipped in the shower. They've heard it too many times before.