If a garden hose were possessed by a demon, it might look like this. A new tube robot can unravel at 35 kilometres per hour to a maximum length of 72 metres, changing direction at whim. It even has the ability to turn handles.
Unlike most robots and animals, plants move by growing. It鈥檚 a slow process, but a growing plant can easily get round corners or into tight spaces.
The new robot does the same thing, only faster. It has up to three chambers that, when filled with air, force extra material to unfold. By controlling the airflow in each chamber, the robot can change direction.
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So what is plant-bot good for? It can extend into three dimensions up structures like radio antennas, lift heavy objects such as a 75-kilogram crate, and also operate valves. In future, tougher versions of the robot could be used to help with search and rescue missions.
鈥淲e hope to automate manufacture of the robots so that dozens of them could cost almost nothing,鈥� says Elliot Wright Hawkes, who developed the robot at Stanford University in California. He also sees potential for using it in certain types of surgery, including to guide medical catheters. Indeed, he says, 鈥渨e鈥檙e hoping to move to in vivo testing in the near future.鈥�
Science Robotics
