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Popeidol writes:

"NASA is testing out some new designs for robots based on Tensegrity (Short for Tensional Integrity, a principle Buckminster Fuller helped develop). The idea is that you have rigid rods joined by flexible joints and cables, which gives you a highly-resilient and flexible structure. NASA calls it the Super Ball Bot "for its ability to bounce on landing and shift its shape via multiple small motors to roll across a surface."

There are still plenty of problems to be solved, the positive attributes mean they're currently investigating the option of simultaneously deploying many of them to the surface of a planet directly from orbit."

1. "Tensegrity" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity
2. "rigid rods joined by flexible joints and cables" - http://www.wired.com/design/2014/02/nasas-super-ball-bot-revolutionize-robotics/
3. ""for its ability to bounce on landing and shift its shape via multiple small motors to roll across a surface."" - http://boingboing.net/2014/02/26/nasas-buckminster-fuller-ins.html
4. "simultaneously deploying many of them to the surface of a planet directly from orbit." - http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/cct/technology/stp/earlystage/niac_superbot_prt.htm

printed from SoylentNews, NASA Prototypes New 'Tensegrity' Robots on 2024-04-24 12:16:18