Scientists create 'earthworm' robot

Researchers have engineered a soft robot that inches ahead with earthworm-like peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body.

The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably resilient: even when stepped upon or bludgeoned with a hammer, it is able to inch away unscathed.

Sangbae Kim, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says such a soft robot may be useful for navigating rough terrain or squeezing through tight spaces, the journal IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics reports.

[caption id=“attachment_413701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]The robot is named “Meshworm” for the flexible, meshlike tube that makes up its body. Researchers created “artificial muscle” from wire made of nickel and titanium, a shape-memory alloy that stretches and contracts with heat, according to an MIT statement.

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They wound the wire around the tube, creating segments along its length, much like the segments of an earthworm. They then applied a small current to the segments of wire, squeezing the mesh tube and propelling the robot forward.

Besides Kim, other co-authors are graduate student Sangok Seok and post-doctoral researcher Cagdas Denizel Ona, MIT; associate professor Robert J. Wood, Harvard University; assistant professor Kyu-Jin Cho, Seoul National University, and Daniela Rus, professor of computer science and engineering at MIT.

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