INFORMATION:
Videos available here:
https://youtu.be/JhX5LxK4Gws
https://youtu.be/XnIeshlc4oM
Stills at: http://we.tl/6ZKfeYffeG
3-D-printed robot is hard at heart, soft on the outside
First of its kind robot is inspired by nature, capable of multiple jumps
2015-07-09
(Press-News.org) Engineers at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego, have created the first robot with a 3D-printed body that transitions from a rigid core to a soft exterior. The robot is capable of more than 30 untethered jumps and is powered by a mix of butane and oxygen. Researchers describe the robot's design, manufacturing and testing in the July 10 issue of Science magazine.
"We believe that bringing together soft and rigid materials will help create a new generation of fast, agile robots that are more robust and adaptable than their predecessors and can safely work side by side with humans," said Michael Tolley, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UC San Diego, and one of the paper's co-lead authors with Nicholas Bartlett, a Ph.D. student at the Wyss Institute at Harvard, where the bulk of the work took place. Bartlett and Tolley designed, manufactured and tested the robot.
The idea of blending soft and hard materials into the robot's body came from nature, Tolley said. For example, certain species of mussels have a foot that starts out soft and then becomes rigid at the point where it makes contact with rocks. "In nature, complexity has a very low cost," Tolley said. "Using new manufacturing techniques like 3D printing, we're trying to translate this to robotics."
Soft robots tend to be slow, especially when accomplishing tasks without being tethered to power sources and other electronics, said Tolley, who recently co-authored a research review on soft robotics for Nature (Rus, Tolley, v. 521, pp. 467-475). Researchers hope that their work will allow rigid components to be better integrated within soft robots, which will then move faster without compromising the safety of the humans who would work with them.
In the case of the robot described in Science, rigid layers make for a better interface with the device's electronic brains and power sources. The soft layers make it less vulnerable to damage when it lands after jumping.
The robot is made of two nestled hemispheres. The top hemisphere is like a half shell, 3D-printed in once piece, with nine different layers of stiffness, creating a structure that goes from rubber-like flexibility on the exterior to full rigidity near to core. Researchers tried several versions of the design and concluded that a fully rigid top would make for higher jumps. But a more flexible top was more likely to survive impacts on landing, allowing the robot to be reused. They decided to go with the more flexible design.
A challenging part of the process was designing around off-the-shelf materials available to 3D-print the robot, Tolley said. Specs provided by the manufacturers were not detailed enough, so he and his coauthors printed samples to test every single material they used. The data they collected allowed them to calculate the precise stiffness of the nine different layers in their robot's top half. They used this information to simulate the performance of the robot and speed up the design process.
The bottom half of the robot is flexible and includes a small chamber where oxygen and butane are injected before it jumps. After the gases are ignited, this half behaves very much like a basketball that gets inflated almost instantaneously, propelling the robot into a jump. When the chemical charge is exhausted, the bottom hemisphere goes back to its original shape.
The two hemispheres surround a rigid core module that houses a custom circuit board, high-voltage power source, battery, miniature air compressor, butane fuel cell and other components. In a series of tests, the robot jumped two and a half feet (0.75 m) in height and half a foot (0.15m) laterally. In experiments, the robot jumped more than 100 times and survived an additional 35 falls from a height of almost four feet.
Tolley was a postdoctoral associate at Harvard when he did most of the work in this paper. He was hired at UC San Diego in fall 2014. In his lab at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, he borrows ideas from nature to design robots composed of soft materials; robots made by folding; and robots that self-assemble. He plans to further explore and expand the field of biologically inspired robotics in coming years.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Investing ~3.5 percent GDP in science, technology, innovation is benchmark for sustainable development: Experts
2015-07-09
New York, 9 July - Investing up to 3.5% of a nation's GDP in science, technology and innovation - including basic science and education - is a key benchmark for advancing sustainable development effectively, leading experts say.
In papers released July 9 in New York, international scientists advising UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon say closing the gap between developed and developing countries depends on first closing international science, technology and innovation (STI) investment gaps.
According to the UN SG's 26-member Scientific Advisory Board: "While a target ...
A precocious black hole
2015-07-09
Black holes can be found at the centres of most galaxies. Most have little mass compared with their host galaxy. ETH researchers, however, have discovered a particularly massive black hole, which clearly grew so quickly that the host galaxy was not able to keep pace. This calls into question previous thinking on the co-evolution of galaxies and their central black holes.
Benny Trakhtenbrot, a researcher at ETH Zurich's Institute for Astronomy, together with an international team of astrophysicists, was hunting for ancient massive black holes using the 10 meter Keck telescope ...
A graphene-based sensor that is tunable and highly sensitive
2015-07-09
Many areas of fundamental research are interested in graphene owing to its exceptional characteristics. It is made of one layer of carbon atoms, which makes it light and sturdy, and it is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor. Despite its apparently limitless potential, however, few applications have been demonstrated to date. Scientists at EPFL's Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory (BIOS) together with researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, Spain) have now added another one. They have harnessed graphene's unique optical and electronic properties ...
Global sea levels have risen 6 meters or more with just slight global warming
2015-07-09
CORVALLIS, Ore. - A new review analyzing three decades of research on the historic effects of melting polar ice sheets found that global sea levels have risen at least six meters, or about 20 feet, above present levels on multiple occasions over the past three million years.
What is most concerning, scientists say, is that amount of melting was caused by an increase of only 1-2 degrees (Celsius) in global mean temperatures.
Results of the study are being published this week in the journal Science.
"Studies have shown that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets ...
European scientists separate medical benefits of cannabis from some unwanted side effects
2015-07-09
Scientists at the University of East Anglia, University of Barcelona, University Pompeu Fabra and several other European institutions have found a way to separate the medical benefits of cannabis from some of its unwanted side effects.
The research comes from the team that had previously discovered how the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, known as tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, reduces tumour growth in cancer patients.
Their latest findings, publishing on July 9th in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, reveal how some detrimental cognitive effects of THC are ...
Modeling a nervous pathway involved in touch-induced behavior
2015-07-09
Many animals actively touch objects in their environment and respond to them by appropriate movement sequences. Jan Ache and Volker Dürr from Bielefeld University in Germany present a model in PLOS Computational Biology that captures key properties of a wide variety of descending neurons that are part of an "active touch system".
Goal-directed actions require neurons that descend from the brain to lower parts of the nervous system, for example: to distribute sensory information to local modules of movement control. Stick insects actively explore the near-range environment ...
Study advances potential of tumor genome sequencing and DNA-based blood tests in precision treatment
2015-07-09
In a genome-sequencing study of pancreatic cancers and blood in 101 patients, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists say they found at least one-third of the patients' tumors have genetic mutations that may someday help guide precision therapy of their disease. Results of blood tests to detect DNA shed from tumors, they say, also predicted cancer recurrence more than half a year earlier than standard imaging methods.
"Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest death rates among cancer types. Many people think there are no treatment options, but our study shows that ...
Diabetes complications linked to rising risk of dementia
2015-07-09
Washington, DC--People who have diabetes and experience high rates of complications are more likely to develop dementia as they age than people who have fewer diabetic complications, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
An individual develops diabetes when the pancreas doesn't produce enough of the hormone insulin or the body can't use insulin properly to process sugar. When blood sugar levels remain high due to uncontrolled diabetes, serious complications can develop, including blindness, kidney ...
Testosterone therapy fails to treat ejaculatory dysfunction
2015-07-09
Washington, DC--Men who have ejaculatory disorders and low testosterone levels did not experience improved sexual function after undergoing testosterone replacement therapy, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Estimates indicate between 10 percent and 18 percent of men have problems with inability to ejaculate, decreased volume of ejaculation, decreased force of ejaculation and delayed time to ejaculation. This is a separate neurobiological problem from erectile dysfunction, and there is no FDA-approved ...
Early HIV treatment improves survival in some patients with newly diagnosed TB
2015-07-09
PITTSBURGH, July 9, 2015 - Starting anti-HIV treatment within two weeks of the diagnosis of tuberculosis, or TB, improved survival among patients with both infections who had very low immune-cell counts, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Health. Those with strong immune systems, however, might benefit from waiting until after the end of the six-month TB treatment before initiating anti-HIV therapy, they found.
In a study published in the current issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, the team recommended updating ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power
Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health
Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world
Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on
A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice
ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle
Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air
GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients
Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds
Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity
Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests
Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows
Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer
SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events
Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design
New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients
Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?
Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain
Decoding plants’ language of light
UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC
New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury
New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows
Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?
1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5
In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day
Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds
Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production
Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago
Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP
Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024
[Press-News.org] 3-D-printed robot is hard at heart, soft on the outsideFirst of its kind robot is inspired by nature, capable of multiple jumps