Researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, teamed up to produce a 3D-printed inchworm robot made of shape memory polymers. The robot transforms itself from a completely flat, two-dimensional object into a walking inchworm-shaped robot with almost no help from human hands. Shape memory polymers fold along specific hinges; the only human input needed is to attach the battery and motor.
The goal of the project is to create robots that can be produced quickly and as cheaply as possible. “Currently the goal is to just make a more complicated robot, and one that can fold itself and then walk away,” explains Harvard grad student Sam Felton in a YouTube interview that was filmed this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Germany.
The final step needed to make the robots entirely self-replicating would be to design them so that they can add the battery and motor themselves. Felton says that the next generation of robots will have come with pre-assembled batteries and motors, enabling the robot to assemble itself and walk without any human intervention. As Felton explains in the interview, a simple pick and place robot could be tasked with installing the battery and motor.
