The Swiss Army Knife Robot | MIT Technology Review: The device is called a milli-motein—a reference to its millimeter-sized components and a motorized design inspired by proteins, which naturally fold themselves into incredibly complex shapes. "It’s effectively a one-dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip, without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into arbitrary shapes," says Neil Gershenfeld...
To build it, the research team had to invent an entirely new kind of motor: one that is not only small and strong but also able to hold its position firmly even with the power switched off. (When an ordinary electric motor is switched off, its shaft can rotate freely.) The researchers met these needs with a new system called an electropermanent motor.
No comments:
Post a Comment