The small but robust robot can be almost entirely fabricated on a 3D printer within just a few hours. Nitin Sanket
Small and resilient robots, designed to work together in swarms, are being developed to tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges.
These robots could be used in various fields, including disaster relief and environmental monitoring.
Markus Nemitz and his team at Tufts University have developed soft-jointed robots using 3D printing, realizing a long-term research goal.
“My Ph.D. research was in swarm robotics. I would develop algorithms that control large assemblies of robots, allowing them to share information and modify behavior based on evolving conditions and the need for collective effort,” said Nemitz.
However, the high cost and time required to build swarms of robots presented a major obstacle. 3D printing solved this problem, allowing for the fast creation of strong robots at less cost.
Inspired by reptile limbs
The palm-sized robot’s design is inspired by the way mammal and reptile limbs are structured. Instead of all rigid parts, the new robots use a combination of semi-soft links and soft joints. This allows them to move more naturally and handle rough terrain more effectively.
Often fully rigid robots require quick, multiple adjustments to maintain balance on uneven terrain, but these new robots with soft joints move more smoothly and adapt more easily to surface irregularities.
“We designed our robots with soft and rigid components, instead of mostly rigid components like you might see on the Boston Dynamics robot dog “Spot”,” said Nemitz.
The combination of soft and rigid components makes the robots incredibly resilient. Interestingly, the robots can withstand impacts, navigate rough terrain, and even recover from being crushed.
“You could drop our robots from a helicopter or flatten them under a wheel, and they will still pick up and walk away. They walk over rocks. They walk over sand. They can crawl up steep inclines. They can handle many different environments, so now we can develop swarm capability that actually leaves the lab and has a high survivability rate,” Nemitz added.
Mutiple uses of robot
With a setup of multiple 3D printers, it’s theoretically possible to produce hundreds of these robots in a single day.
The 3D printer can use multiple materials simultaneously to create the robot’s semi-soft and soft parts.
“Once we have these robots, we can also customize them, since each operation can have novel conditions,” said Nemitz in the press release.
The team suggests that their newly designed robot could be useful in situations like the 2018 incident in which a soccer team was trapped in the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand.
The incident highlighted the lack of robots capable of navigating such complex environments. These 3D-printed robots could be quickly customized and used in similar rescue operations to provide supplies and communication.
Future applications for the robot swarms include use in wildfire-ravaged areas for tasks like mapping toxic contamination, searching for survivors, and identifying areas where the fire is spreading rapidly.
Apart from wildfire response, potential uses for the robot swarms include clearing landmines, conducting earthquake search and rescue, and agricultural applications like pest control and soil monitoring.
Nemitz’s lab is also developing applications for these robots in landmine removal and tracking glacial changes.
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The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
