Engineers have created a shape-changing "soft" robot that can tread over a variety of adverse environmental conditions including snow, puddles of water, flames, making them useful in search and rescue operations.
The robots, which can withstand the crushing force of being run over by an automobile, have been developed by engineers from Cornell and Harvard Universities and are pneumatically powered, fully untethered and enabled by the careful selection of materials and composites, including silicone elastomer.
The robots can carry its own weight and the researchers say that they consist of silicone elastomer, polyaramid fabric, and hollow glass microspheres were used to fabricate a sufficiently large soft robot to carry the miniature air compressors, battery, valves, and controller needed for autonomous operation.
The study was published in the journal Soft Robotics.