<p>It's the latest prototype in the growing field of soft-bodied robots. Researchers are increasingly drawing inspiration from nature to create machines that are more bendable and versatile than those made of metal.<br /><br />The Harvard team, led by chemist George M. Whitesides, borrowed from squids, starfish and other animals without hard skeletons to fashion a small, four-legged rubber robot that calls to mind the clay animation character Gumby.<br /><br />In recent years, scientists have been tinkering with squishy — sometimes odd-looking — robots designed to squeeze through hard-to-reach cracks after a disaster like an earthquake or navigate rough terrain in the battlefield.<br /><br />“The unique ability for soft robots to deform allows them to go places that traditional rigid-body robots cannot,” Matthew Walter, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an email.<br /><br />A team from Tufts University earlier this year showed off a 4-inch caterpillar-shaped robot made of silicone rubber that can curl into a ball and propel itself forward.<br /><br />The Harvard project was described online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The new robot, which took two months to construct, is 5 inches long. Its four legs can be separately controlled by pumping air into the limbs, either manually or via computer. This gives the robot a range of motions, including crawling and slithering. The researchers tested the robot's flexibility by having it squirm underneath a pane of glass just three-quarters of an inch from the surface.<br /><br />Researchers eventually want to improve the robot’s speed, but were pleased that it did not break from constant inflation and deflation.<br /><br />“It was tough enough to survive,” said Harvard postdoctoral fellow Robert Shepherd. There were drawbacks. The robot is tethered to an external power source and scientists need to find a way to integrate the source before it can be deployed in the real world.<br /><br />Robotics researcher Carmel Majidi, who heads the Soft Machines Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, said the latest robot is innovative even as it builds on previous work. “It’s a simple concept, but they're getting lifelike biological motions,” he said.<br /></p>
<p>It's the latest prototype in the growing field of soft-bodied robots. Researchers are increasingly drawing inspiration from nature to create machines that are more bendable and versatile than those made of metal.<br /><br />The Harvard team, led by chemist George M. Whitesides, borrowed from squids, starfish and other animals without hard skeletons to fashion a small, four-legged rubber robot that calls to mind the clay animation character Gumby.<br /><br />In recent years, scientists have been tinkering with squishy — sometimes odd-looking — robots designed to squeeze through hard-to-reach cracks after a disaster like an earthquake or navigate rough terrain in the battlefield.<br /><br />“The unique ability for soft robots to deform allows them to go places that traditional rigid-body robots cannot,” Matthew Walter, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an email.<br /><br />A team from Tufts University earlier this year showed off a 4-inch caterpillar-shaped robot made of silicone rubber that can curl into a ball and propel itself forward.<br /><br />The Harvard project was described online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The new robot, which took two months to construct, is 5 inches long. Its four legs can be separately controlled by pumping air into the limbs, either manually or via computer. This gives the robot a range of motions, including crawling and slithering. The researchers tested the robot's flexibility by having it squirm underneath a pane of glass just three-quarters of an inch from the surface.<br /><br />Researchers eventually want to improve the robot’s speed, but were pleased that it did not break from constant inflation and deflation.<br /><br />“It was tough enough to survive,” said Harvard postdoctoral fellow Robert Shepherd. There were drawbacks. The robot is tethered to an external power source and scientists need to find a way to integrate the source before it can be deployed in the real world.<br /><br />Robotics researcher Carmel Majidi, who heads the Soft Machines Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, said the latest robot is innovative even as it builds on previous work. “It’s a simple concept, but they're getting lifelike biological motions,” he said.<br /></p>