Soft robots, like animals, need a circulatory system to help store energy and nourish
To do this, the engineers made an elastomeric pump, which consists of a soft silicone tube and coils of wire - solenoids, they are located around the device at a short distance from each other.
The gaps between the turns allow the pipe to bend andstretch. Inside the tube is a solid magnet core, around which there is a magnetorheological fluid - it solidifies under the influence of a magnetic field to keep the core in the center and create the necessary seal.
Pump device
Depending on how the magnetic field is applied, the core of the magnet can move back and forth, like a piston that pushes out liquids such as water or oil.
The researchers conducted an experiment and showed thattheir pumping system can work continuously. The authors tracked performance parameters in order to adapt their design to different types of robots.
Read more:
The James Webb telescope took the first picture of Jupiter: it shows 9 moving targets at once
Scientists understand why T-Rex and other large dinosaurs had small "hands"
The oldest Voyager 1 mission has a strange glitch that cannot be fixed