A team of researchers from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory has designed and built a geometric robot that is able to change shape depending on the terrain and task it is undertaking.
The robot, known as the Tetraflex, has the basic shape of a tetrahedron or triangular pyramid.
It utilises flexible piping that is able to change shape and size to suit different scenarios.
The researchers describe the Tetraflex in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters as “a multigait soft robot for object transportation in confined environments”.
Lead author Peter Wharton, from Bristol’s School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, explained that the robot is made from soft struts connected to rigid nodes at each triangular point.
The struts are composed of airtight rubber bellows that are able to extend or constrict depending on the amount of internal air pressure applied.
The configuration of these individual struts allows the robot to change not only its shape and overall size but also its mode of locomotion.
It can roll or crawl and constrict to get through small gaps, which could make it ideal for deploying in a wide range of different environments.
This could include navigating rubble to reach survivors at the scene of an earthquake, working on an oil rig, or even applications for exploring other planets.
Robot is able to transport objects within its body
The Tetraflex is also able to pick up and carry an object or payload cradled inside its body.
The researchers demonstrated the robot’s ability to transport an egg, but this feature could have a number of applications involving moving payloads in dangerous or difficult-to-reach environments.
Examples could include uses in decommissioning nuclear facilities or taking part in ecological surveys.
Wharton said that the versatility of the robot’s structure lent itself to other potential capabilities that might be developed in the future.
He said that it could be used to “explore challenging terrain and achieve tasks in areas humans cannot access”.
An earlier version of the robot was entered in last year’s RoboSoft Locomotion Competition in Edinburgh.
It came third after demonstrating the ability to move across sand, pass through small gaps and get between obstacles.
The researchers now intend to apply machine learning algorithms to optimise current movement patterns and potentially to develop new ones.
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