Robotics engineers at MIT have achieved a technological first and made see-through robots made of gel that will move water pumped in as the motive force. Amazingly, these simple robots can kick aa ball, and even attempt to grab a fish while swimming. This is a technical feat done for the first time with hydrogel.
The robot is composed of hydrogel that is soft and resilient, made up of water mostly. Its robotic structure is hollow inside the gel-chassis, hydrogel mechanisms are all connected via rubber tubing for water to pump into. It works by sending in water into simple mechanisms, this pushes in water to cause movement. Movement is rather simple, but the soft bot will curl or stretch depending on the amount of water inside the channels.
Engineers made several versions of the soft gel robots as prototypes, to test applicable structures in the possible designs. These soft-gel robots had fins like fish, that moved back and forth, an appendage that had a joint to kick in the water, and the last is shaped like a hand that squeezes or relaxes like a muscle.
With a robotic chassis made up of water, also water flow is used to power its movement too. Better yet is having transparency and sound properties the same as water, will give it a stealthy advantage when deploying in watery environments. The technology is nascent and yet to be fully realized, when it is the applications will be mind-boggling, to say the least.
Initial conceptions of the gel robots we're conceived by Xuanhe Zhao and graduate student Hyunwoo Yuk (MIT), who are both intents on adapting and engineering hydrogel robots for medical use. Using hydrogel that will be safe to interact inside the human body, without ill-effects because of the hydrogel composition. One of the major tool applications for hydrogel robot technology is as hands, to manipulate organs and tissue as augmented tools for surgical procedures.
The hydrogel material for the soft robot is devised from engineering several materials for assembling the robotic soft-hydrogel chassis. Utilizing several substances like polymers and water, fabricating processes to make it tough from breaking, and stretches easily without any problem. Another important innovation in the hydrogel is developing glues to stick to a variety of surfaces it can. Its glue is able to create strong bonds to the surface without peeling off.
After initial tests of the proper material to use, everything pointed to the hydrogels with all the great design characteristics made it the right choice. Other designers made the error of using silicone, not like fully customized and engineered hydrogels that are biocompatible. Others fail by not developing the same hydrogel, it is mostly water and perfect for medical applications as the best one. Another error in other projects is that hydrogel will be brittle, and crack after much use.
The success of the hydrogel robot is that simple structure can actuate and with a soft structure. They are simple but make use of a simple actuator and water is pure ingenuity. Plus, it can be used for surgery, without disintegrating after much use.
