Link: Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion

Jan 27, 2018

Here we demonstrate magneto-elastic soft millimetre-scale robots that can swim inside and on the surface of liquids, climb liquid menisci, roll and walk on solid surfaces, jump over obstacles, and crawl within narrow tunnels. These robots can transit reversibly between different liquid and solid terrains, as well as switch between locomotive modes. They can additionally execute pick-and-place and cargo-release tasks.

Really interesting new tech from the Max Planck institute in Germany. These robots are rubbery and filled with magnetic (or ferro-magnetic) particles that allow them to respond accordingly to an external magnetic field by changing its modulus and direction. On this page you can find many interesting videos showing how these robots work and all the things they can do, here's a summary by The New York Times wrapping it up.

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