Evolution took millions of years to gestate organisms with a certain
build and unique abilities
such as dogs, snakes, bees or primates.
Using these capabilities as a template, scientists designed
machines that perfectly emulate their behavior.
Robotics experts, such as Boston Dynamics models, are inspired by these specimens to develop
robots
that achieve more efficient consumption of resources, a precise control system, and better coordinated movements.
This branch of engineering is known as
biorobotics
and is in charge of studying nature in order to turn it into a source of inspiration for innovative technologies.
The final result is tools with a strong link to artificial intelligence, which reproduce the best flight conditions, the firmest grip, and even the cooperative work of some insects.
Below are the most ambitious projects in this area.
Guide dog
Tefi is a robot dog that can drive the elderly and blind people.
Petri is capable of guiding its owner on public roads, thanks to the combination of a GPS chip that is responsible for positioning, a connection to the mobile phone network, and digital cartography from Google Maps.
The Spanish scientists took the Unitree Go of Chinese origin as a base, to turn it into a guide that guides dependent or disabled people.
Although its metallic packaging is intimidating, it resembles the prototypes of Boston Dynamics.
Petri has automatic driving equipped with AI that allows it to detect and distinguish objects, people and read road signs.
In addition, you can communicate by voice with the person to perform the tasks assigned to you and describe what you see through your camera or read the information you receive from the Internet.
builder bees
The Buildrone imitate the behavior of bees.
This fleet of drones called Buildrone is organized like bees to do
construction and repair
work in places that are difficult to access or that are very dangerous.
The flying machine squad is divided into two: one team is made up of builders, who operate as aerial 3D printers, depositing the material in the heights.
The other is made up of scanning drones, which monitor the work and give instructions.
Like natural builders such as wasps, termites and swallows are flexible and adapt to the environment while in flight.
They do not collide or overlap, their mentors indicate.
The drones are autonomous while in flight and are supervised by a human controller who checks progress.
They are ideal for building and repairing elevated structures or structures at risk of collapse.
The main characteristics of these robot bees -designed by researchers from Imperial College London and the Swiss Federal Laboratory of Materials Science and Technology- were published weeks ago in the journal Nature.
underwater eel
Eelume is a sea eel.
Eelume was conceived to carry out pipe repairs on subsea oil platforms.
Its body is six meters long and is equipped with sensors, LED lights and cameras.
The interesting thing about its modular design is that sections of its zigzagging structure can be replaced to add new sensors, cameras, radars, tweezers to adjust objects, brushes and other
maintenance tools
.
Eelume's fluted shape allows it to move quickly while consuming less energy.
It can move with thrusters and move a few sections without a motor.
Even let yourself be carried away by the sea currents.
In this way, it can be used to clean conduits and pipes, inspect facilities, take seawater samples to detect contamination, locate oil or gas leaks.
It was developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and launched by Eelume AS, an industrial supply company, after a decade of research on such devices.
carnivorous robot
The Xenobots are shaped like Pac-Man.
Halfway between biology and mechanics, Xenobots are millimeter creatures created from frog embryos.
They have the ability to self-
replicate asexually
, with the help of AI.
Their Pac-Man format allows them to assemble babies who, a few days later, become new Xenobots, which can go out, find other cells, and make copies of themselves, indefinitely.
One of their most amazing features is that they have the ability to regenerate automatically.
That is, after receiving damage they can heal themselves.
Unlike a conventional robot that requires commands from a human being, they operate autonomously, which means that they do not need a specific programming code to validate their behavior.
For its gestation, its makers used an evolutionary algorithm, which is a program that creates robots in a virtual world with random shapes and patterns from two types of cells, skin and heart muscle.
The lead author of the research, San Kriegman of the University of Vermont, explained that, by itself, the progenitor Xenobot is made up of about 3,000 cells that form a sphere.
Among the functions that the Xenobot will fulfill, it stands out that it could transport medicines inside the human body.
making their administration more effective.
Their microscopic size makes them suitable for traveling inside the human body, to clean the arteries and thus prevent cardiovascular diseases.
quadruped climber
These tin quadrupeds can climb with ease.
Within the plane of all-terrain vehicles, the MARVEL (Magnetically Adhesive Robot for Versatile and Expeditious Locomotion) are robots capable of climbing
walls and iron ceilings,
thanks to the adhesion of their magnetic legs.
“It can move not only on level ground, but also on vertical walls and ceilings made of ferromagnetic materials.
They can perform precise maneuvers, such as crossing gaps, overcoming obstacles," says Seungwoo Hong from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
The secret of these quadrupeds is in their feet, where they combine an electropermanent magnet (EPM) and a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) to generate a clamping field.
The EPM is a device that can change its magnetic property through electric current, although it does not need electricity to maintain a magnetic state.
MRE is an elastomer with magnetic components that allows greater adherence to metal.
Thanks to this system, the robot climbs without ties and its feet take advantage of the interchangeable magnets to separate and hold on to surfaces.
SL
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