Researchers at EPFL have come up with a folding, reconfigurable robot that is capable of crawling and jumping. Modelled on the inchworm, it represents a new paradigm in robotics.
The word robot generally conjures up images of a rigid structure and electronic motors. In Jamie Paik's Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory, however, the word takes on a whole new meaning. Researchers have thrown convention out the window by creating robots patterned on origami: flat, ultra-light and foldable.
The most recent of these origami robots or "robogamis", Tribot, has been unveiled at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). Tribot's gait pattern is modelled after inchworms, but what makes it unique is its gait mode: it can simultaneously switch between crawling and jumping, which means it can jump over obstacles and then resume moving forward. Tribot is two centimetres tall, weighs 4 grams and has a T-shaped structure with three legs. "This unusual robot can jump up to seven times its height, and it does not need to be reset between jumps," said Paik.
Creating a robot as light as a Swiss 20-centime coin was not easy for the team, which had to overcome several technical challenges. They could not use conventional motors, which are too heavy and bulky. All movement comes from a special kind of actuator and intelligent springs, which are made from shape memory alloy (SMA).
More after the break.
Shape memory alloy - in this case Titanium and Nickel - is capable of "remembering" its initial shape, even after it has been deformed. After deformation, it is possible to make it return to its basic shape by heating it at a certain temperature. Researchers used this principle to generate movement in their ultra light robot. They built actuators made of shape memory alloys to allow locomotion in many directions. In short, movement is induced by thermally activating different parts of the robot.
"We gave the robot numerous actuators, each of which is insulated from the others," said Zhenishbek Zhakypov, who co-authored the article. "By activating the actuators successively, the robot begins to crawl. The jumping mode depends on springs that are also made out of SMA."
There are two ways to heat the actuators: by sending an electric current into the robot using wires, or with customized wireless micro-heaters.
Tribot's sandwich-like structure could easily be produced on a mass scale. Several two-dimensional layers need to be assembled to create the three-legged robot. "Just like Ikea furniture, these robots could be shipped in flat layers that could then be easily assembled," said Paik. In their article, the researchers explain how Tribot can also be created with 3D printing, an extremely fast process.
Unusual by any measure, Tribot - like the other robogamis - creates new perspectives in the field of robotics. Since it can switch modes of locomotion and adapt to the environment by reconfiguration, it could be used to move across rough terrain, for example.
For now, the researchers are continuing the work on their robogamis to give them additional sensors - such as accelerometers, and micro cameras - and having them interact with each other.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday September 29 2015, @11:43AM
> Creating a robot as light as a Swiss 20-centime coin
Really? Swiss centimes? I'm not normally one of those who complains about this kind of crap but for the sake of shitcrawling fuck... Do you think the authors of such articles keep comprehensive lists of obscure items and their physical properties pinned to the walls near their desks, so as soon as something new is built or discovered they can quickly look up an equivalent weight / length / mass/ height?
"Ah, a new doohickey has been invented that weighs just 4g." checks list "That's the same as a swiss 20 centime coin! Phew! For a 90th of a football game there I thought I might have to use an actual unit of measurement."
"This new solar panel for the space station is 41.2 metres long." Consults list "My readers are too busy to deal with complex concepts like 'metres', I'm sure they will be delighted that I have conveniently translated that length for them into the width of almost exactly 10.5 pre-1930 sumo wrestling rings."
"This new building is over 12000 anteaters high!"
"This newly discovered species of anteater is barely one one-hundred-and-eightieth of a Saturn 5 rocket."
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 29 2015, @12:25PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Tuesday September 29 2015, @01:29PM
+1 Someone is having a bad day
I do agree with you though
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday September 29 2015, @02:35PM
What other coins weigh 4 grams? It clearly states that it weighs 4 grams - so there is an SI unit of weight for you. The author attempts to put that into context, but perhaps he does not know the weight of a quarter, 20 pence piece, a rand or a baht. He does, apparently, know the weight of a Swiss 20-centime piece.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2015, @06:48PM
A post-1999 Canadian nickel has a mass of 3.95 g.* On the Earth's surface, its weight would be about 0.039 N.
* source: http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/5-cents-5300006 [www.mint.ca]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday September 29 2015, @02:40PM
You did read that the source material comes from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, located in Zurich? The choice of Swiss centimes seems entirely reasonable - look outside your own borders and you will find a world full of other countries.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday September 29 2015, @02:44PM
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2015, @02:43PM
It's a press release from a Swiss university: they use items familiar to Swiss people for making the comparison. (For reference: 4 grams corresponds to 1.76366843034 times the mass of 10 USD cents. Credits: WolframAlpha)
(Score: 1) by Osamabobama on Tuesday September 29 2015, @06:26PM
Is that 10 USD cents in pennies, nickels or dimes?
(For those unfamiliar with US coinage, 1 cent coins, 5 cent coins or 10 cent coins, respectively.)
And what sort of precision in the standard weight of the coins in question? That is, does 1.76366843034 represent a multiple of the weight specification of the coins, or the average weight of the coins? Do the coins get lighter or heavier with use and time? I would expect pennies to get heavier with oxidation, but maybe all coins lose mass over time by rubbing against things. With 12 significant digits, these small effects will make a difference.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by broggyr on Tuesday September 29 2015, @03:02PM
"My car gets 12 hogsheads to the furlong, and that's the way I like it!"
Taking things out of context since 1972.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2015, @04:11PM
The chair I'm sitting on is seven pounds. To put that in perspective that's the mass of ten trillion air molecules.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2015, @05:20PM
and give them irritable bowel syndrome. Gonna win us the War Against Terrrists! ALL HAIL THE BAMA