Close Menu
The Westside GazetteThe Westside Gazette
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Media Kit
    • Political Rate Sheet
    • Links
      • NNPA Links
      • Archives
    • SUBMIT YOUR VIDEO
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    The Westside GazetteThe Westside Gazette
    Advertise With Us
    • Home
    • News
      • National
      • Local
      • International
      • Business
      • Releases
    • Entertainment
      • Photo Gallery
      • Arts
    • Politics
    • OP-ED
      • Opinions
      • Editorials
      • Black History
    • Lifestyle
      • Health
      • HIV/AIDS Supplements
      • Advice
      • Religion
      • Obituaries
    • Sports
      • Local
      • National Sports
    • Podcast and Livestreams
      • Just A Lil Bit
      • Two Minute Warning Series
    The Westside GazetteThe Westside Gazette
    You are at:Home » Harvard Scientists Build Wild Rubber-tentacled Robot
    Technology

    Harvard Scientists Build Wild Rubber-tentacled Robot

    November 2, 20223 Mins Read0 Views
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest Telegram LinkedIn Tumblr Email Reddit
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest WhatsApp Email
    Advertisement



    By Danny Halpin

    A new rubber-tentacled robot currently being developed. It’s a project creating a new technology that uses inflatable tentacles. HARVARD UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES VIA SWNS

    A new rubber-tentacled robot could be used to handle anything from fruit and vegetables to endangered coral. Most grippers rely on embedded sensors, complex feedback loops or advanced machine learning algorithms, combined with the skill of the operator. But researchers at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in the US have created a new type that uses inflatable tentacles.


    Modeled on how jellyfish ensnare their prey, the robotic gripper uses hollow, foot-long filaments made of rubber to entangle itself around objects. As one side of the rubber tube is thicker than the other, it curls like a pig’s tail when inflated and can grip objects without sensing, planning, or feedback control. While to release an object the operator simply deflates the tubes.

    Each individual contact is weak, but collectively the filaments are strong, and the researchers say they could handle heavy but fragile objects such as endangered coral or fragile artifacts from sunken ships.

    Study first author Dr. Kaitlyn Becker, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS, said: “With this research, we wanted to re-imagine how we interact with objects.

    “By taking advantage of the natural compliance of soft robotics and enhancing it with a compliant structure, we designed a gripper that is greater than the sum of its parts and a grasping strategy that can adapt to a range of complex objects with minimal planning and perception.”

    Dr. Becker and colleagues used simulations and experiments to test the gripper by picking up a range of objects including various houseplants and toys. The team said the gripper could also be used to pick up soft fruit and vegetables for agricultural production and distribution, delicate tissue in medical settings and even irregularly shaped warehouse objects like glassware.

    Dr. Becker said her work combines that of Professor Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan on the topological mechanics of entangled filaments with Professor Robert Wood’s research on soft robotic grippers.

    Close-up of the gripper’s filaments wrapping around an object. A form of technology that expands the range of what’s to pick up with robotic grippers. HARVARD UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES VIA SWNS

    Mahadevan said: “Entanglement enables each highly compliant filament to conform locally with a target object leading to a secure but gentle topological grasp that is relatively independent of the details of the nature of the contact.”

    Wood, who is also the co-corresponding author of the paper, added: “This new approach to robotic grasping complements existing solutions by replacing simple, traditional grippers that require complex control strategies with extremely compliant and morphologically complex filaments that can operate with very simple control.

    “This approach expands the range of what’s possible to pick up with robotic grippers.”

    The development was described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

    Produced in association with SWNS Talker.

    Recommended from our partners



    The post Harvard Scientists Build Wild Rubber-tentacled Robot appeared first on Zenger News.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Telegram Email
    00chevyman@comcast.net'
    00chevyman2000

    Related Posts

    TikTok Reveals The Platform Algorithm Promoting Teen Suicide Using Dark Content

    April 5, 2023

    Jimmy Wales Wonders If AI Could Be Next Editor-In-Chief Of Wikipedia — He Has One Problem Though

    April 2, 2023

    How These New Electronic Bandages Could Speed Up The Healing Process

    March 25, 2023
    Advertisement

    View Our E-Editon

    Advertisement

    –>

    advertisement

    Advertisement

    –>

    The Westside Gazette
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    © 2025 The Westside Gazette - Site Designed by No Regret Media.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Go to mobile version