World's First Completely Soft Robot
Removing all hard parts from a robot is an extremely ambitious goal but the Octobot was 3D printed using silicone! Once the body is fully printed and laid out then engineers begin integrating the channels that communicate movement. The movement is powered by a chemical reaction where hydrogen peroxide washes over tiny platinum and produces a gas, the robot's fuel. It pushes fluid through its limbs, inflating them, and it is cleverly designed to inflate and deflate its limbs in order to move in the desired direction!
“Through our hybrid assembly approach, we were able to 3-D print each of the functional components required within the soft robot body, including the fuel storage, power, and actuation, in a rapid manner,” said Jennifer A. Lewis, the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). “The Octobot is a simple embodiment designed to demonstrate our integrated design and additive fabrication strategy for embedding autonomous functionality.”
As of now, Octobot can't actually steer itself but is showing great progress. This research demonstrates that we can efficiently manufacture the key components of a simple, entirely soft robot, which lays the foundation for more complex designs. The researchers strive for the next version of Octobot to swim and interact with objects around it. They intend to make it small enough to where maybe the technology can be used inside humans.
