Soft vine-like growing robot, Stanford, California, USA

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Article "A soft robot that navigates its environment through growth"

by Elliot W. Hawkes, Laura H. Blumenschein, Joseph D. Greer, and Allison M. Okamura
July 19, 2017:
Vol. 2, Issue 8, eaan3028
DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aan3028


"Stanford researchers develop a new type of soft, growing robot"
A newly developed vine-like robot can grow across long distances without moving its whole body. It could prove useful in search and rescue operations and medical applications.

by Taylor Kubota
July 19, 2017

 

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Stanford researchers develop vine-like, growing robot

Published on Jul 19, 2017

Mechanical engineers at Stanford have developed a robot that grows
like a vine. It’s ability to grow across distances without moving its whole body could be useful in search and rescue and medical applications.

 

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Tube robot is growing places

Published on Jul 20, 2017

A new tube robot can unravel at 35 kilometres per hour to a maximum length of 72 metres, changing direction at whim.

"Bioinspired tube robot can sneak round corners and turn on taps"

by Timothy Revell
July 19, 2017

 

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Soft robot moves by mimicking plants

Published on Jul 21, 2017

A tough but flexible bot unfurls like a plant using a pressurized plastic tube to inch through rugged environments.

Transcript:
A new soft robot grows like a tendril.
It unfurls from the inside to creep forward, stretching up to 72 meters away from its source.
The unique design reduces friction, letting the bot navigate complex environments without snagging.
It can handle everything from fly paper, to glue, to a bed of nails.
The bot can navigate like a plant toward the light.
It uses a camera threaded through the tube to calculate its course while small chambers inflate to steer.
Robots like this could be used in disasters.
It’s flexible enough to wiggle through tiny gaps, and light enough to “walk” on water. But strong enough to lift heavy objects,
and apply the force to turn a valve.

 

[Administrator]

Soft “vine robots” grow into solutions - Science Nation

Published on Apr 9, 2018

Tease: Engineers design vine-like, inflatable, plastic bots that can change shape to solve problems

Description: Animals inspire many designs for robots, from the gecko-inspired StickyBot to RoboBees. But, mechanical engineers at Stanford University looked to the plant world for bio-inspiration.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Allison Okamura and her collaborators at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, are building soft robots inspired by vines. Collaborators on this research include Elliot Hawkes of University of California, Santa Barbara, and Sean Follmer and Jonathan Fan of Stanford University.

The form and nature of vines are ideal for threading through narrow spaces, whether those spaces are within the human body or at a disaster site. Imagine a vine robot becoming a water hose that grows to a fire or an oxygen tube that grows to a trapped disaster victim. The team is also engineering vine robots with the ability to configure themselves into three-dimensional structures, such as manipulators and antennae for communication.

Vine robots are one type of soft robot, an emerging area of robotics engineering. Soft robots incorporate versatility, adaptability, and pliability to function more like natural organisms, and to allow humans and soft robots to work safely together.