{"id":558949,"date":"2021-02-18T15:27:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T20:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therobotreport.com\/?p=558949"},"modified":"2021-03-16T17:11:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T21:11:33","slug":"designing-quadruped-controlled-powered-pneumatics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therobotreport.com\/designing-quadruped-controlled-powered-pneumatics\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing a quadruped controlled & powered by pneumatics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"quadruped

This quadruped relies on a series of valves that open and close in a specific sequence to walk. | Credit: UCSD<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn\u2019t need any electronics to work. The quadruped only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems.<\/p>\n

The team, led by Michael T. Tolley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, details its findings in the journal Science Robotics<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This work represents a fundamental yet significant step towards fully-autonomous, electronics-free walking robots,” said Dylan Drotman, a Ph.D. student in Tolley\u2019s research group and the paper\u2019s first author.<\/p>\n

Applications include low-cost robotics for entertainment, such as toys, and robots that can operate in environments where electronics cannot function, such as MRI machines or mine shafts. Soft robots<\/a> are of particular interest because they easily adapt to their environment and operate safely near humans.<\/p>\n

Most soft robots are powered by pressurized air and are controlled by electronic circuits. But this approach requires complex components like circuit boards, valves and pumps – often outside the robot\u2019s body. These components, which constitute the quadruped’s brains and nervous system, are typically bulky and expensive. By contrast, the UC San Diego robot is controlled by a light-weight, low-cost system of pneumatic circuits, made up of tubes and soft valves, onboard the robot itself. The robot can walk on command or in response to signals it senses from the environment.<\/p>\n

“With our approach, you could make a very complex robotic brain,” said Tolley, the study\u2019s senior author. “Our focus here was to make the simplest air-powered nervous system needed to control walking.”<\/p>\n

The quadruped’s computational power roughly mimics mammalian reflexes that are driven by a neural response from the spine rather than the brain. The team was inspired by neural circuits found in animals, called central pattern generators, made of very simple elements that can generate rhythmic patterns to control motions like walking and running.<\/p>\n

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