Engineering news
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems integrated artificial muscles into hexagonal exoskeletons embedded with magnets for quick mechanical and electrical connections.
Each HEXEL module, as they're known, is made of six lightweight glass plates. The inner joints are driven by hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic artificial muscles. When a high voltage is applied to the module, these muscles activate, rotating the hexagon and changing its shape from long and narrow to wide and flat.
“Combining soft and rigid components in this way enables high strokes and high speeds. By connecting several modules, we can create new robot geometries and repurpose them for changing needs”, says Ellen Rumley, a visiting researcher from the University of Colorado Boulder.
A video shows the capabilities of the new robots. A group is able to crawl through a narrow gap, while another can actuate so fast that it's ale to leap into the are. Depending on how the modules are combined, the robots move in different ways—the team combined several to make a robot that can roll quickly around.
“In general, it makes a lot of sense to develop robots with reconfigurable capabilities. It’s a sustainable design option – instead of buying five different robots for five different purposes, we can build many different robots by using the same components. Robots made from reconfigurable modules could be rearranged on demand to provide more versatility than specialized systems, which could be beneficial in resource-limited environments'', says Zachary Yoder, a co-author on the publication in the journal Science Robotics, and a PhD student in the Robotic Materials Department at Boulder.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.