The soft robotics revolution: What the machines that can change human life look like and what they do

What before seemed like a matter of science fiction, this is no longer the case. And the industry robotics You know it well because you already live it. THE soft robots are a revolution in PLC technology. Almost like a contrast to traditional mechanical robots, these machines are inspired by the flexible bodies of living beings, as in humans and animals and cells. Yes, as the name suggests, they are comprised of soft parts made with smart materials that make those metal parts a thing of the past.

What’s the big news? That these robots have applications in terms of detecting, moving, grasping and manipulating objects. Constructed of delicate, flexible and realistic materials, they have the potential to improve on their crude, metal-bodied predecessors. Such machines could explore other planets more quickly as well as gently harvest organisms from the depths of the ocean and even help surgeons.

A new generation of soft robots navigates, grows and self-repairs to meet the high expectations of the laboratory. They are ready, some predict, to enter our lives soon.

“The robotics community has continually focused on the science and engineering of autonomy. We have made advancements in soft body components as well as algorithmic control and are now using these advancements to make autonomous soft robots. increasingly capable and self-sufficient,” said Daniela Rus, a robotics and computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Also new, flexible materials allow robots to deform to adapt to changing environments, such as narrow tunnels. They can also more easily manipulate fragile materials, such as human organs or fragile rocks, without breaking them. How could it be otherwise, many developments in soft robotics are inspired by the characteristics of living organisms, such as the flexibility of octopuses.

A group of researchers, inspired by the self-healing properties of human skin, recently created an experimental robot capable of recovering from minor injuries. It’s that when exploring different territories, they are more prone to cuts and punctures than rigid machines.

“If we have our own parents and we get robots that work for years while performing skillful tasks, that opens up a lot of opportunities for us,” says study co-author Robert Shepherd, an engineer at the Cornell University. “A clear example is space exploration, perhaps building research habitats on the moon or even studying the oceans of Europe. may have no one to fix them.”

Shepherd and his team have designed a squishy robot that not only heals damage, but doesn’t need to be told when to. How is it? It uses fiber optic sensors and can therefore detect when your material has been punctured. It then uses a hyperelastic material, called polyurethane urea elastomer, to heal the wound quickly. But there’s more: the robot is also programmed to move in a new direction after damage, ideally to escape whatever caused it.

Another team created a soft robot that “grows” like a plant or mushroom for a study published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

Growing robots could dig underground or establish new infrastructure on other planets. But to grow, soft robots usually have to drag material behind them and use it to 3D print new structures. This can make it difficult for a robot to work as a person would with a garden hose,” says study co-author Chris Ellison, an engineer and materials scientist at the University of Minnesota. “If you drag your garden hose around a corner around a tree, the force on the hose increases,” he adds.

Researchers turned to plants for a solution. “They don’t spread their roots by dragging more roots behind them,” says Ellison. And he adds, “They transport liquids and then turn those liquids into solids, and that’s what ends up building structure.”

Your team’s new robot uses light to solidify a liquid while spitting it out through a small hole to form a tube, extending from its launch point as far as necessary. “The robot can control the shape of the tube as it grows, allowing it to navigate difficult paths without running into the garden hose problem. Robots could one day use this technology to inspect seamlessly through underground pipelines or through the human body for medical applications,” Ellison adds.

Engineers have also made significant progress in improving the sensing and motion capabilities of soft robots, which will make them easier to deploy in remote environments.

For example, Rus’ group recently built a robot with networks of air-filled channels throughout its body. You can measure pressure changes in these channels to determine where your body parts are in space, similar to human proprioception.

Robert Katzschmann, robotics expert at ETH Zürich, said: “Soft robotic hands usher in a new era for manufacturing. Right-handed robots could adapt more easily to factory settings if they had human hands capable of using the same tools as us.”

Soft robots could also find a place in hospitals alongside nurses and doctors. “Helping hands could make medicine a little cheaper,” says Katzschmann. And he continues: “So you don’t need 10 people in an operating room. You might only use one or two.

Ellison’s team says their robot could one day grow through tissue and search for cancerous tumors, potentially replacing dangerous surgery entirely. “I think soft robots are a pathway to endurance and agility never seen before in man-made machines,” Shepherd concluded.

The development of robotics has many advantages. Among them, they created a robot with a device that has the ability to perform all these tasks simply by giving it orders. Sanctuary AI is the company behind this project, which aims to be an assistant in daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning dishes, tidying the table and a desk. Although for now everything is in the development phase.

The robotics industry has designed devices for various aspects, such as those focused on working as waiters, delivery people, security guards or supermarket employees. But this progress focuses on the domestic consumption.

More specifically, its creators see it as a “multipurpose robot”, which will have the ability to integrate artificial intelligence with cutting-edge hardware.

The first revealed details of how it works focus on seeing it perform daily tasks, such as cleaning the dishes, cooking, and more. However, all this does not happen automatically; that is, it needs human instructions to carry out each activity.

Another machine that was created recently has the ability to perceive odors. scientists of the Tel Aviv University has developed a robot which has the same sense of smell as a human being and which can be used to replace dogs in airports for the detection of explosives and drugs.

“Creating a robot with a biological nose could help us preserve human life and identify criminals in a way that is not possible today. Some animals can sense disease. Others can sense earthquakes,” said Dr. Ben Maozpart of the engineering school from which the research originated.

For its operation, a biohybrid platform has been developed, which uses biological sensors connected to electronic systems. Moreover, it is completed by algorithms of artificial intelligencein a process that is very similar to how this sense works in people.

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