| UPDATED: 13:32, Wed, Feb 3, 2021
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Army-funded researchers have finally cracked how to make materials capable of self-propulsion, meaning materials can now move without the need for motors. The scientists responsible suggest this breakthrough could forge the next generation of self-powered military tech.
Snap Instabilities, Which Make Popper Toys Pop, Could Let Future Robots Propel Themselves
Having watched a gel strip dry, researchers have found a way to harness snap-buckling without the need for a manual reset phase.
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Researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Delft University of Technology, in partnership with the US Army, have published a paper detailing a way of giving materials the ability to propel themselves using only environmental energy flow â something the military is looking into for future robotics applications. Many plants and animals, especially small ones, use special parts that act like springs and latches to help them move really fast, much faster than animals with muscles alone, explains paper co-author Dr. Al Crosby, a professor of polymer science and engineering in the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst. Plants like the Venus flytrap are good examples of this kind of movement, as are grasshoppers and trap-jaw ants i
Credit: UMass Amherst
Imagine a rubber band that was capable of snapping itself many times over, or a small robot that could jump up a set of stairs propelled by nothing more than its own energy. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered how to make materials that snap and reset themselves, only relying upon energy flow from their environment. The discovery may prove useful for various industries that want to source movement sustainably, from toys to robotics, and is expected to further inform our understanding of how the natural world fuels some types of movement.
Al Crosby, a professor of polymer science and engineering in the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst, and Yongjin Kim, a graduate student in Crosby s group, along with visiting student researcher Jay Van den Berg from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, uncovered the physics during a mundane experiment that involved watching a gel strip dry. The researchers observed t