Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a soft robot capable of hopping forward and backward, inspired by the unique locomotion of nematode worms. The device, made of silicone rods with carbon-fiber spines, can jump up to 10 feet into the air, similar to the impressive leaps of the microscopic parasitic worm.
The team drew inspiration from high-speed video footage of nematodes, which contort their bodies into unusual shapes to propel themselves forward and backward. The robots’ ability to navigate various terrains and move in multiple directions is made possible by the unique kinks in their bodies, which store energy that is rapidly released to execute jumps.
“This stored energy is then rapidly released – within a mere tenth of a millisecond – to execute the leap,” said Sunny Kumar, study lead coauthor. “The nematodes’ bodies are resilient enough to repeat this jumping process multiple times.”
The research team discovered that the kinks in the nematode worms enable them to store more energy with each jump, which is then rapidly released to execute the leap. This discovery has implications for designing simple elastic systems using materials like carbon fiber that can endure and capitalize on these kinks to create robots capable of hopping across diverse landscapes.
The study was published in Science Robotics and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Source: https://www.azorobotics.com/News.aspx?newsID=15903