Scientists have created a centimeter soft robot that can run at a relatively high speed. About informs New Scientist.
It can run 70 body lengths per second – more than three times the running speed of a cheetah, given the size of the bodies. The researchers even had to purchase a special high-speed camera to capture the ongoing footage.
The robot is made of a rubber-like material bent into an inverted U shape with metal wires running through it. The electric currents in these wires move when they interact with the magnetic field around the robot. They hope the invention will eventually be used in medicine to administer drugs or perform procedures in the human body. “It took several months to find a good leg design. But now the robot can walk on any flat surface such as rubber, wood or paper,” says Guoyun Mao of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. In addition, the robot can run, circle, swim, jump over small obstacles and carry cargo. Battery life is half an hour, they plan to increase this time in the future.