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Flexible Yet Sturdy Robot Is Designed to ‘Grow’ Like a Plant

Its extendable appendage can meander through tight spaces and then lift heavy loads

The new “growing robot” can be programmed to grow or extend in different direction based on the sequence of chain units that are locked and fed out from the “growing tip” or gearbox. Image courtesy of researchers, edited by MIT News
Jennifer Chu
Wed, 12/04/2019 - 12:02
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In today’s factories and warehouses, it’s not uncommon to see robots whizzing about, shuttling items or tools from one station to another. For the most part, robots navigate pretty easily across open layouts. But they have a much harder time winding through narrow spaces to carry out tasks such as reaching for a product at the back of a cluttered shelf, or snaking around a car’s engine parts to unscrew an oil cap.

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Now MIT engineers have developed a robot designed to extend a chain-like appendage flexible enough to twist and turn in any necessary configuration, yet rigid enough to support heavy loads or apply torque to assemble parts in tight spaces. When the task is complete, the robot can retract the appendage and extend it again, at a different length and shape, to suit the next task.

The appendage design is inspired by the way plants grow, which involves the transport of nutrients, in a fluidized form, up to the plant’s tip. There, they are converted into solid material to produce, bit by bit, a supportive stem.

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