Octobot Autonomous Soft Robot

Here is an autonomous, untethered, soft robot, named Octobot, with 3D printed parts that shows the potential for robots of the future. This is a pneumatic-based robot, powered by gas under pressure. A small amount of liquid fuel is turned into a large amount of gas inside to allow Octobot’s arms to inflate.

Harvard researchers used a microfluidic logic circuit to control the reaction. According to them, the entire system is easy to make with soft lithography, molding and 3D printing. The next step is to make an Octobot that can crawl and swim.

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