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November 23, 2011 08:05 am

A New Class of Inflatable Robots By OtherLab

HizookRobotics writes "Inflatable robots have the potential to be low-cost, lightweight, extremely powerful, and yet 'human safe' — in other words, perfect for many robotics applications. Here are two new examples: a 15-foot-long walking robot (a Pneubot named Ant-Roach) and a complete, inflatable robot arm (plus hand). Both of these robots were developed by Otherlab as part of their 'pneubotics' project (in collaboration with Meka Robotics and Stanford University), with some funding from DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program. These robots use textile-based, inflatable actuators that expand upon inflation into specially-designed shapes to effect motion. Since these robots are built out of lightweight fabric-and-air structural members and powered via pneumatics, they exhibit large strength-to-weight ratios. For example, Ant-Roach is less than 70 lbs and can support multiple human riders; the inflatable robot arm is less than 2 lbs and can lift a few hundred pounds at 50-60 psi."

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