Contents
23 June 2021
Vol 6, Issue 55
Vol 6, Issue 55
Special Issue on Robots in Extreme Environments
Focus
- Burrowing soft robots break new ground
A bioinspired soft robot burrows through shallow dry sand with remarkable speed and maneuverability.
- Stealthy tracking of deep ocean organisms with Mesobot
Tracking deep ocean animals over their daily cycles will revolutionize our understanding of the largest biome on Earth.
Research Articles
- Controlling subterranean forces enables a fast, steerable, burrowing soft robot
Understanding in granular physics on control of subterranean forces enables fast, steerable, soft robotic burrowing.
- A hybrid underwater robot for multidisciplinary investigation of the ocean twilight zone
We present the design and at-sea results from a hybrid marine robot called Mesobot that can actively track midwater phenomena.
About The Cover
ONLINE COVER Groundbreaking Soft Robot. Robotic burrowing presents different challenges to robotic walking, swimming, or flying. Burrowing through soil requires subterranean interaction forces to be overcome; these forces can be an order of magnitude higher than air or water. Inspired by burrowing animals such as the southern sand octopus and the sandfish lizard, Naclerio et al. have developed a soft robot that can burrow through shallow dry sand with high speed and maneuverability by leveraging tip extension, granular fluidization, and tip asymmetries. Their robot can travel as fast as 480 cm/s and steer in three dimensions in shallow dry sand. This month's cover is a photograph of the burrowing soft robot emerging from the sand (see also the Focus by Tao). [CREDIT: SICHENG WANG]
