This Robot Can Grow, Twist, And Turn As Needed

Human hands are at a level of dexterity that robots have a hard time keeping up with. A lot of day-to-day tasks require the robots to reach behind objects to grab another behind them. And they need to do this without knocking the ones on the front off the shelf. However, MIT's engineers have found a solution to this challenge.

The university’s experts have created a robot that has appendage shaped like a chain flexible enough to turn and twist to any direction needed. While possessing flexibility, the robot does not sacrifice its rigidness as it can work with heavy loads. Its appendage can retract or extend to different lengths to fit the job.

The inspiration for the appendage comes from the way plant usually grows. The robot has some growing points which are basically gearboxes pulling a chain of blocks that interlocks with each other into the box. The chain units are then locked by the gears and fed as a stiff appendage. The team has come up with several applications for this robot.

They may attach cameras, sensors, and grippers to the gearbox of the robot. Now with a vision, it can reach inside of an airplane’s propulsion system to fix something inside or grab something on a shelf without disturbing the ones in front of it.

An example one of the engineers in the team made is that the robot can change the oil in a car. It can be flexible enough to make turns to reach the place of the oil filter. It can also be rigid to remove the oil filter. He said that the team's creation could accomplish that with ease.