The pasta-shaped bots don’t rely on computer signals to dictate their movements.
Watch below as a soft robot twists around the walls of a maze to freedom.
The material the robots are made from is shaped like a ribbon, then twisted into a pasta shape.
This temperature is generally hotter than the air around it.
Once the robot touches the surface, it contracts.
The part of the robot that’s not touching the surface doesn’t contract.
This imbalance causes the robot to roll.
If the surface grows hotter, the robot rolls faster.
Yin said this method of auto propulsion has been done before, using smooth-sided rods.
But using that shape has a drawback: the rod gets stuck in place and just spins around.
The researchers solved the problem of moving around obstacles by creating a spiral shape.
If the end of the robot hits an object, the robot just rotates around it.
Why is this design important?
