Researchers from North Carolina State University have increased the speed of soft robots in water in
Researchers have developed two types of butterfly bots.One was built specifically for accelerated swimming and could reach an average speed of 3.74 body lengths per second. The second was designed to be highly agile, capable of making sharp turns to the right or left. This maneuverable prototype moved at a speed of 1.7 body lengths per second.
Scheme of the movement of the butterfly robot. Image: Chi et al., Scince Advances
Butterfly robots move using bistablewings, that is, having two stable states. The wing looks like a hair clip. It is stable until you apply a certain amount of energy to it (bending it). When the impact reaches a critical point, it takes on another form, which is also stable.
In butterfly robots, bistable wings in the formThe hair clips are attached to the soft silicone case. Users control the switching between the two stable states in the wings by forcing air into chambers inside the soft body. As these chambers inflate and deflate, the body curves up and down, causing the wings to swing with it.
A fast robot has only one "engine",who governs both of his wings. This makes it very fast, but difficult to turn left or right. The agile robot uses two drives at once, two drives connected side by side. This design allows you to move both wings, and only one. Thanks to this, the robot can make circular turns.
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