Inspired by the agile movements of microscopic nematodes, engineers at Georgia Tech have developed a 5-inch soft robot capable of leaping 10 feet high. This innovation holds potential for diverse applications, including search and rescue missions.
Inspired by the dynamic movements of nematodes, a type of roundworm, engineers at Georgia Tech have developed a revolutionary soft robot that can jump as high as 10 feet. Published on April 23 in Science Robotics, this research showcases the potential for creating agile robots that can traverse diverse terrains.
The 5-inch robot, crafted from a silicone rod reinforced with a carbon-fiber spine, mimics the unique jumping capability of nematodes. Despite their minuscule size, nematodes can propel themselves to impressive heights by contorting their bodies into specific shapes.
“Nematodes are amazing creatures with bodies thinner than a human hair,” lead co-author Sunny Kumar, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) at Georgia Tech, said in a news release. “They don’t have legs but can jump up to 20 times their body length. That’s like me laying down and somehow leaping onto a three-story building.”
These roundworms, commonly found in various environments and within hosts like humans and animals, utilize their distinctive contortions to store and release energy efficiently. A nematode, bent into a unique shape, can leap backward or forward with precision — a feat engineers at Georgia Tech were keen to replicate.
The research team, including Kumar and lead co-author Ishant Tiwari, another ChBE postdoctoral fellow, collaborated with lead author Victor Ortega-Jimenez, a former Georgia Tech research scientist who’s now a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and researchers from the University of California, Riverside.
The engineers observed nematode movements using high-speed cameras, noting how the worms altered their center of mass to control their jumps.
“Changing their center of mass allows these creatures to control which way they jump. We’re not aware of any other organism at this tiny scale that can efficiently leap in both directions at the same height,” added Kumar.
The researchers discovered that the nematodes’ kinked bodies store significant energy, which is released almost instantaneously to achieve their leaps. This finding influenced the design of the soft robot, which similarly uses stored energy to jump.
“Kinks are typically dealbreakers,” added Tiwari. “Kinked blood vessels can lead to strokes. Kinked straws are worthless. Kinked hoses cut off water. But a kinked nematode stores energy that is used to propel itself in the air.”
Recognizing the potential broader applications, Kumar added, “A jumping robot was recently launched to the moon, and other leaping robots are being created to help with search and rescue missions, where they have to traverse unpredictable terrain and obstacles.”
The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, suggests that simple, elastic systems could be utilized in developing similar robots, enhancing their ability to navigate complex and diverse environments. This innovation could pave the way for more advanced robots capable of operating in challenging conditions, from space exploration to disaster response.
The researchers’ next steps involve exploring other creatures’ unique movements to inspire future robotic designs.
“Our lab continues to find interesting ways that creatures use their unique bodies to do interesting things, then build robots to mimic them,” added Kumar.
Source: Georgia Institute of Technology