2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Medical robotics specialists from Ben-Gurion University have developed a robot that moves horizontally and vertically and floats in water. IEEE Spectrum tells briefly about the robot.
The robot called SAW consists of a head with wheels that allows you to control the direction of movement, and a tail of several dozen links, inside which is a rigid spiral attached to an electric motor. When the electric motor starts spinning, the tail starts moving and crawls forward or backward. In addition to moving on a flat plane, the robot can also swim in the presence of a waterproof case and crawl vertically, sandwiched between two surfaces.
In total, the developers built several models of different sizes, using differently designed tail links. The largest model built has a maximum speed of 57 centimeters per second on a horizontal surface and eight centimeters per second when moving vertically between walls. The smaller version, specially insulated from the water, can swim at a speed of six centimeters per second. Scaling the robot takes place with little or no additional work, simply by reducing the detail of the tail in 3D printing, the researchers said.
In the future, the developers plan to modify the head part with passive wheels to improve the handling of the robot - for example, the researchers plan to combine the two tails using a movable joint. According to the authors of the project, such devices can be used in the future for medical purposes, since they can move inside the human body even in difficult conditions.
