A soft robot that navigates its environment through growth
A soft robot that navigates its environment through growth
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DOI：
10.1126/scirobotics.aan3028
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发表时间：
2017-07-19
期刊：
影响因子：
25
通讯作者：
Okamura, Allison M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hawkes, Elliot W.;Blumenschein, Laura H.;Okamura, Allison M.
在不同的生物界以及不同的长度尺度上，某些细胞和生物体并非通过移动而是通过生长来在其环境中行进。这种运动模式存在于真菌的菌丝、发育中的神经元以及蔓生植物中，其特征是从身体顶端延伸，长度变化可达数百个百分点，并能主动控制生长方向。这使得它们能够在受限的环境中移动，并从自身形成有用的三维结构。我们报道了一类软气动机器人，它能够实现这种行为的一种基本形式，即从顶端大幅增长长度，同时利用机载的环境刺激传感器主动控制方向；此外，其伸长的峰值速率与动物和机器人的移动速率相当。这得益于两个原理：对一个倒置的薄壁容器加压可使机器人身体的顶端快速大幅伸长，而对顶端进行可控的不对称伸长则可实现方向控制。此外，我们通过利用被动变形展示了在受限环境中伸长的能力，并通过沿着一条路径伸长机器人的身体形成了三维结构。我们的研究为通过生长来在环境中行进的工程系统奠定了基础。
Across kingdoms and length scales, certain cells and organisms navigate their environments not through locomotion but through growth. This pattern of movement is found in fungal hyphae, developing neurons, and trailing plants, and is characterized by extension from the tip of the body, length change of hundreds of percent, and active control of growth direction. This results in the abilities to move through tightly constrained environments and form useful three-dimensional structures from the body. We report a class of soft pneumatic robot that is capable of a basic form of this behavior, growing substantially in length from the tip while actively controlling direction using onboard sensing of environmental stimuli; further, the peak rate of lengthening is comparable to rates of animal and robot locomotion. This is enabled by two principles: Pressurization of an inverted thin-walled vessel allows rapid and substantial lengthening of the tip of the robot body, and controlled asymmetric lengthening of the tip allows directional control. Further, we demonstrate the abilities to lengthen through constrained environments by exploiting passive deformations and form three-dimensional structures by lengthening the body of the robot along a path. Our study helps lay the foundation for engineered systems that grow to navigate the environment.