The Glaucus - A quadrupedal soft robot with no hard moving parts
The Glaucus, named after the Blue Sea Slug (Glaucus Atlanticus), is an open source soft robotic quadruped from Super-Releaser { http://superreleaser.com }. It is a proof of concept for a method developed at Super-Releaser that can reproduce nearly any geometry modeled on the computer as a seamless silicone skin. The company hopes to apply these same techniques to practical problems in medicine and engineering as the technology develops.
The quadruped has hollow interior chambers that interdigitate with one another. When either of these chambers is pressurized it deforms and bends the structure of the robot. This bending produces the walking motion. It is similar to how a salamander walks, by balancing itself on one pair of legs diagonal from one another while moving the opposite pair forward.
Super-Releaser is an open source company. You can find links to all of its research, including downloads for 3d printing your own Glaucus, on { http://superreleaser.com }. You can find supplemental information on how this technology was developed at { http://bit.ly/softrobots }. If you have any questions about the Glaucus, soft robotics, or the tutorials Super-Releaser has authored, please visit the Soft Robotics Forum at { http://forum.superreleaser.com }.
For more details:
* Make your own walking soft robot - http://learn.adafruit.com/soft-quadru...
* Download the source files - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:277171/
* More info on Super-Releaser - http://superreleaser.com/about-us/
* More information about the methods behind these robots - http://har.ms/b/CMA
* Photos of the process - https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVkYNy2
Credits:
* Robot Design/Fabrication - Matthew Borgatti http://har.ms
* CG Animation - Edmund Earle http://www.edgeworxstudios.com/
* Narration - Mark Ryes http://markryes.com
* Music - Noqturne: Bluberryz http://www.jamendo.com/en/list/a44632...
Watch on YouTube