New 'Soft' Robot: Shape-Changing and Versatile

Researchers at Stanford and UC Santa Barbara have developed a new type of robot combining traditional and soft robotics, making it safe but sturdy. Once inflated, the human-scale pneumatic robot can change shape and roll without being attached to a source of energy or air. Unlike current robots composed of linear actuators that are heavy and power hungry, the new design is lightweight, compliant and robust. For robots to be useful for real-world applications they must be safe around humans and adaptable to different tasks and environments. The new design achieves these features. Its pliant truss structure is composed of thin-walled inflatable tubes, capable of changing shape by continuously relocating its joints. The design brings together advantages from three distinct types of robots—soft, collective, and truss-based—while overcoming certain limitations of each. Well suited for tasks such as space exploration and search and rescue, the robot can compress to small volumes for launch or transportation, deploy to a large size when inflated, and change shape to navigate rugged terrain.

Stage of Development
A human-scale 3D robot capable of punctuated rolling locomotion and manipulation has been demonstrated. Future developments will include enabling dynamic activities such as jumping.
Read a Stanford News article