A team of MIT engineers believe that while soft robots can squeeze into spaces typical rigid machines can’t, they’re usually not sturdy enough to be fitted with tools like sensors, grippers and cameras. That’s why they went another route when they created a solution for robotics’ “last foot problem:” instead of designing a soft robot, they made a flexible one inspired by growing plants. It’s made of rigid material, but its appendages look like bicycle chains, allowing it to twist and turn into whatever configuration is needed to reach its objective. Those appendages are also capable of carrying heavy loads at the same time.
MIT explains the “last foot problem” as an engineering term “referring to the last step, or foot, of a robot’s task or exploratory mission.” That last task, for instance, could be maneuvering into tight or complex spaces. The team’s design was inspired by the way plants transport nutrients up to their tip, bit by bit, until they manage to create stems. Similarly, their robot has gears that release its 3D-printed plastic chain one after the other, so it looks like it’s “growing.”
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