Meet The Soft Robots That Can Amputate Limbs And Fuse With Other Robots

Source: Visit website

Headlines:

In one demo video, we see a soft quadruped robot crawling along when a falling rock traps a back leg. The reversible joint attaching the leg is heated with current, allowing the robot to break free of its leg and escape. Although it's not shown in the video, the limb can be re-attached, as well.

In the second video, a single crawler robot is unable to cross the gap between tables, but three robots are able to fuse together (again, using joints that have been heated and softened by electric current), then they cross the gap as a single unit.

These capabilities aren't entirely new to the world of robotics (especially modular robotics), but existing systems based on mechanical connections and magnets are inherently rigid, according to Spectrum IEEE . The innovation here lies in the joints, created using a material called a bicontinuous thermoplastic foam, along with a sticky polymer. This combination allows the joint to be melted and pulled apart, then stuck together again.

The roboticists described their work in a paper, "Self-Amputating and Interfusing Machines," published in Advanced Materials. They argue that using their techniques might lead to "future robots capable of radical shape-shifting via changes in mass through autotomy and interfusion."

There is a general consensus today that generative AI is going to transform business in a profound way, and companies and individuals who don't get on board will be quickly⁘

Google's parent company Alphabet might be on the verge of making its biggest acquisition ever. The Wall Street Journal reports that Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire Wiz for⁘

Hank Green has had a while to think about how social media has changed us. He started making YouTube videos in 2007 with his brother, novelist John Green, at a time when the first iPhone was in development, MySpace was still relevant and Instagram didn't exist. Seventeen years later, posting⁘

Here is a timeline of Synapse's troubles and the ongoing impact it is having on banking consumers.

#news