{"id":16945,"date":"2019-11-09T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T06:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=16945"},"modified":"2020-06-09T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T12:40:09","slug":"robot-is-designed-to-grow-like-a-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/robot-is-designed-to-grow-like-a-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Robot is designed to \u201cgrow\u201d like a plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Its extendable appendage can meander through tight spaces and then lift heavy loads. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s factories and warehouses, it\u2019s not uncommon to see robots whizzing about, shuttling items or tools from one station to another. For the most part, robots navigate pretty easily across open layouts. But they have a much harder time winding through narrow spaces to carry out tasks such as reaching for a product at the back of a cluttered shelf, or snaking around a car\u2019s engine parts to unscrew an oil cap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now MIT engineers have developed a robot designed to extend a chain-like appendage flexible enough to twist and turn in any necessary configuration, yet rigid enough to support heavy loads or apply torque to assemble parts in tight spaces. When the task is complete, the robot can retract the appendage and extend it again, at a different length and shape, to suit the next task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appendage design is inspired by the way plants grow, which involves the transport of nutrients, in a fluidized form, up to the plant\u2019s tip. There, they are converted into solid material to produce, bit by bit, a supportive stem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, the robot consists of a \u201cgrowing point,\u201d or gearbox, that pulls a loose chain of interlocking blocks into the box. Gears in the box then lock the chain units together and feed the chain out, unit by unit, as a rigid appendage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers presented the plant-inspired \u201cgrowing robot\u201d this week at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in Macau. They envision that grippers, cameras, and other sensors could be mounted onto the robot\u2019s gearbox, enabling it to meander through an aircraft\u2019s propulsion system and tighten a loose screw, or to reach into a shelf and grab a product without disturbing the organization of surrounding inventory, among other tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThink about changing the oil in your car,\u201d says Harry Asada, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. \u201cAfter you open the engine roof, you have to be flexible enough to make sharp turns, left and right, to get to the oil filter, and then you have to be strong enough to twist the oil filter cap to remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow we have a robot that can potentially accomplish such tasks,\u201d says Tongxi Yan, a former graduate student in Asada\u2019s lab, who led the work. \u201cIt can grow, retract, and grow again to a different shape, to adapt to its environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also includes MIT graduate student Emily Kamienski and visiting scholar Seiichi Teshigawara, who presented the results at the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last foot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The design of the new robot is an offshoot of Asada\u2019s work in addressing the \u201clast one-foot problem\u201d \u2014 an engineering term referring to the last step, or foot, of a robot\u2019s task or exploratory mission. While a robot may spend most of its time traversing open space, the last foot of its mission may involve more nimble navigation through tighter, more complex spaces to complete a task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineers have devised various concepts and prototypes to address the last one-foot problem, including robots made from soft, balloon-like materials that grow like vines to squeeze through narrow crevices. But Asada says such soft extendable robots aren\u2019t sturdy enough to support \u201cend effectors,\u201d or add-ons such as grippers, cameras, and other sensors that would be necessary in carrying out a task, once the robot has wormed its way to its destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur solution is not actually soft, but a clever use of rigid materials,\u201d says Asada, who is the Ford Foundation Professor of Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chain links<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the team defined the general functional elements of plant growth, they looked to mimic this in a general sense, in an extendable robot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe realization of the robot is totally different from a real plant, but it exhibits the same kind of functionality, at a certain abstract level,\u201d Asada says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers designed a gearbox to represent the robot\u2019s \u201cgrowing tip,\u201d akin to the bud of a plant, where, as more nutrients flow up to the site, the tip feeds out more rigid stem. Within the box, they fit a system of gears and motors, which works to pull up a fluidized material \u2014 in this case, a bendy sequence of 3-D-printed plastic units interlocked with each other, similar to a bicycle chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the chain is fed into the box, it turns around a winch, which feeds it through a second set of motors programmed to lock certain units in the chain to their neighboring units, creating a rigid appendage as it is fed out of the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers can program the robot to lock certain units together while leaving others unlocked, to form specific shapes, or to \u201cgrow\u201d in certain directions. In experiments, they were able to program the robot to turn around an obstacle as it extended or grew out from its base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can be locked in different places to be curved in different ways, and have a wide range of motions,\u201d Yan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the chain is locked and rigid, it is strong enough to support a heavy, one-pound weight. If a gripper were attached to the robot\u2019s growing tip, or gearbox, the researchers say the robot could potentially grow long enough to meander through a narrow space, then apply enough torque to loosen a bolt or unscrew a cap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auto maintenance is a good example of tasks the robot could assist with, according to Kamienski. \u201cThe space under the hood is relatively open, but it\u2019s that last bit where you have to navigate around an engine block or something to get to the oil filter, that a fixed arm wouldn\u2019t be able to navigate around. This robot could do something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research was funded, in part, by NSK Ltd.<\/p>\n
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