Contents
24 February 2021
Vol 6, Issue 51
Vol 6, Issue 51
Focus
- R.U.R. versus Q.U.R.
R.U.R. created the term “robot” and the robot uprising meme, but Q.U.R. may be more relevant to robotics.
- Pneumatic soft robots take a step toward autonomy
A four-legged soft robot walks, rotates, and reacts to environmental obstacles by incorporating a soft pneumatic control circuit.
- Soft pumps for soft robots
A light and portable soft electro-pneumatic pump could power future soft robots.
Research Articles
- Soft magnetic skin for super-resolution tactile sensing with force self-decoupling
Flexible magnetic sensors have tactile hyperacuity and the ability to distinguish between normal and shear forces.
- Electrostatic bellow muscle actuators and energy harvesters that stack up
An electrostatic transducer based on dielectric polymers and fluids operates as a contractile actuator, a pump, or an energy harvester.
- Electronics-free pneumatic circuits for controlling soft-legged robots
Pneumatic circuits without electronic components enable automatic control of the walking gait of a soft-legged robot.
- Electro-pneumatic pumps for soft robotics
A lightweight, flexible, high-performance, electrically driven pump can replace large, heavy air supplies in soft robots.
About The Cover
ONLINE COVER Untethered Soft Robots Walk This Way. Pneumatic soft robots typically require bulky electromechanical components, such as pumps and valves, to achieve legged locomotion. To simplify the design of untethered quadruped robots, Drotman et al. use fluidic circuits, rather than electronic circuits, to achieve programmable locomotion in their robot. Specifically, a bioinspired gait pattern is achieved using a soft ring oscillator that produces rhythmic motions analogous to biological central pattern generator neural circuits found in nature. This month's cover is a photograph of a Drotman et al. legged soft robot (see also the Focus by Rajappan et al.) [CREDIT: DROTMAN ET AL./SCIENCE ROBOTICS]
