You dip your hand into pool of water. A long, squishy appendage slowly wraps around your fingers, gracefully tightening its grip. It might sound like a visit to an aquarium touch tank - until you found out this tentacle does not belong to an octopus. 🐙 It isn't even alive!
Welcome to the world of soft robotics. The goal of this area of science is to transform traditional, hard-metal robots into soft, flexible devices using inspiration from nature. Engineers think that by upgrading rigid robots into more flexible robots, the number of uses for robots will go through the roof.
But, what exactly is a soft robot? 🤖
Think about the traditional robot design we’re all familiar with—lots of wires, motors, rigid joints. They’re great for things like assembling cars or sorting packages, but they’re not exactly gentle. Enter soft robotics.
With soft robots, the wires and actuators (the parts that make things move) are built into squishy materials like silicone. These materials can bend, stretch, twist, and inflate in super smooth ways. Some versions look a lot like a squid or an octopus gliding around under the sea.
And engineers are coming up with some wild and super useful ways to apply this tech. For example, working alongside a robot on a factory floor is safer and less stressful when the robot is made of soft material instead of hard metal. The risk of injury drops, and the robots can work more closely with people.
NASA’s even exploring how soft robots might help astronauts on the Moon or Mars. They are thinking about robotic exosuits that astronauts can wear to boost their strength and inflatable, shape-shifting machines that can build habitats in space. Similar soft robot exosuits could be used by patients in physical therapy to regain their mobility or strength. There are prototypes that can be fitted over a patient's hand or legs to assist them with tasks to help rebuild muscle. 💪🏼
Scientists are also working on soft robots that move and behave so much like real animals, they could actually blend into marine ecosystems. A robotic stingray could be swimming along a reef, silently gathering data without disrupting their neighbors' natural behavior.
And the medical world? They're also excited by this technology. Soft robots could be a game-changer for surgeries. Instead of cutting people open, squishy little bots could move through the body to reach areas that need repair. They could help surgeons reach tricky spots, like a hidden tumor, and make procedures less invasive overall.
Researchers have even made a biodegradable soft robot. It was built using cotton fibers and gelatin. It worked just like a regular soft robot, bending and flexing at the user's control, but when the scientists were done with it, they just buried it in the ground to decompose. Two weeks later, it had broken down completely!
Can you imagine the impact that could have on waste disposal? No more robots in the landfill! In the medical field, robots could perform surgery and then just disappear inside the body as they naturally dissolve.
It would be great if biodegradable robots could help make a dent in our growing tech waste problem. Old phones, computers, and other tech are filling up dumps and taking energy to recycle. One of the last in-depth studies to look at global e-waste production was concluded in 2022. Take a look at this graph showing the reported and projected global e-waste amounts:
If I brought this graph to my classroom, here are some questions I'd have to go with it:
💡"MMT" stands for "millions of metric tons." How many millions of metric tons of e-waste did we produce in 2010?
💡Starting in 2010, how long did it take for the amount of e-waste to increase by 10 MMT?
💡It is estimated that less than 25% of e-waste is recycled. What is 25% of the amount of e-waste produced in the year 2017?
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