DailyDirt: Rise Of Flexible Robots
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Robot researchers often look to biology for inspiration because nature has evolved some pretty efficient means of locomotion and self-assembly. The idea of a robot that has a stiff metal body is being replaced by more lightweight, flexible and organic designs and materials. Robot parts made from various polymers could lead to some interesting biomimicry. Here are just a few examples.- Researchers have created a self-assembling robot that starts as a flat sheet of paper and plastic (and some not-so-flat electronics) and can walk around in under 5 minutes. The prototype cost about $100 in parts and uses some origami techniques to allow the bot to spring into action. [url]
- Robot parts that can be 3D printed and incorporate self-assembling components could be the building blocks of re-configurable or self-replicating machines. Machines making machines? How perverse! [url]
- Making robots out of elastomeric materials can result in flexible and extremely modular designs. Skynet is pretty far from making liquid-metal Terminators, and these T-1000 ancestors aren't too intimidating. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 3d printing, biomimicry, origami, robots, self-assembly, self-replicating
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Have these people never watched Stargate SG1?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
"it already has all of its parts"
It's "self-assembling", not "self-manufacturing".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]