'Octobot' – A Soft Robot

Engineers built different versions of robots around the world, but these robots were made up of rigid substances or materials. Engineers now have come up with a new era of robotics i.e. Soft Robotics.

According to IBtimes, a new era of Soft Robotics has arrived as a sub field in robotics. The advantage of soft robotics over hard robotics is that the new development will give flexibility which in turn has different advantages than the rigid ones.

A research team from Harvard University took up a great challenge of finding the soft/ non rigid elements which constitute a Soft Robot. The results of the challenge were tremendously good by building an autonomously powered Soft Robot. The researchers inspired by Octopus and 3d printing technology, built a Soft Robot with no external power source or any electronic circuit board, thus entitling it as 'Octobot.'

A shape of small Octopus - the robot is made of silicone gels of varying stiffness which enhances flexibility, and a chemical reaction which pushes the gas into its rubbery legs and enhances movement.  The sequence of movement is pre-programmed into a sort of circuit board built with pipes. The chemical reaction which takes place is between a liquid fuel (Hydrogen peroxide) and a catalyst (Platinum)

 "The wonderful thing about hydrogen peroxide is that a simple reaction between the chemical and a catalyst - in this case platinum - allows us to replace rigid power sources." said by Michael Wehner, a postdoctoral fellow and co-first author of the research paper.

According to nature, engineer Robert Wood at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the study's leaders. "Instead of passing electrons around, we're passing liquids and gases."

Valves and switches in the robot's brain are one of the reasons for the success in making such a great Soft Robot. The detailed process on how the 'Octobot' works is as follows.

When the researchers inject fuel into the reservoirs, each dedicated to one group of four arms. The reservoirs expand like balloons and push fuel through the micro fluidic circuit. As fuel travels through the circuit, there is a change in pressure and close off some control points and in turn  open others, restricting flow to only one half of the system at a time. As the other side consumes fuel, its internal pressure decreases, allowing fuel to enter the other side.

"Now what needs to be worked out is how to reprogram the robots to perform different actions, to respond to the environment, and not just perform a pre-programmed sequence," said by engineer Robert Shepherd at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

According to BBC, Prof Rossiter told the BBC "One thing that's been missing so far has been putting them all together,"

"It's made in a really nice way. It's made in a way that other people can look at and say, we could use these technologies ourselves - we can make ones that have better fuel systems, or have better control systems, or a more sophisticated body.

"This is a good demonstration of bringing everything together. That's not easy, and they've done a good job."