This shape changing robot can move through anything.Check it out.

09 Nov 2018 POSTED BY Vaishnavi Chidambaram

For the builders of a class of robots called modular self-reconfigurable robots (MSRR), shape-shifting is the first step toward endowing robots with an animal-like adaptability to unknown situations. Penn’s ModLab explores how robots can adapt to their surroundings and solve problems for which they weren’t openly programmed. Now the updated SMORES-EP system can autonomously analyze an environment and then reconfigure and transform its shape to navigate through any environment, even entirely new ones.

In the Lab, they have done three experiments!! Experiment 1 done takes place in the L-shaped office environment, the robot has no knowledge of the environment before the experiment begins, its task is to explore find all objects of interest and bring them toa designated drop-off zone, the robot begins exploring the unknown environment, it quickly recognizes the blue square that indicates the drop-off zone and remembers its location the robot continuously building up a 3d map of its environment as it drives it selects waypoints for exploration using the next best view algorithm that maximizes information gain about the environment while also avoiding obstacles, the robot recognizes the pink object is positioned in a narrow gap identifying this as a tunnel type environment it autonomously determines that a different configuration is needed to reach the object the robot begins the reconfiguration sequence by lying down so that modules that need to move will have their wheels in contact with the ground a module detaches and uses its wheels to drive to the front of the car where it spins in place and retrieve the object and dropping the object changes its shape and begins navigating to the drop-off zone.

In the next two experiments, the robot will help researchers at the university of Pennsylvania mail a circuit board to collaborators at cornell first teh robot needs to place a circuit board in a mail box, the robot begins in the skorpion configuration holding the circuit board after exploring it identifies the mailbox which is marked with a pink rectangle it characterises the environment infron of the mail box as stairs adn moves into position to reconfigure.

By popping off its front two wheels the scorpion transforms into the Snake configuration which is able to climb the stairs at the top it drops the circuit board into the mailbox and descends at the bottom fron wheels reattach to form the scorpion configuartion again.

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Source: ScienceandTechnologyResearchnews