Everybody else is powered by coffee, so why not robots?
There’s such a robot at the University of California – San Diego, and it uses coffee in an interesting way.
The scientists are trying to help robots figure out how to walk better on uneven terrain, like soil, rocks, every part of my yard, those kinds of surfaces.
Their solution? Create robotic feet with some give to them, ones that can adjust along with the terrain.
They’re made of a latex membrane filled with coffee grounds, and that’s because of something called “granular jamming.”
When the robot steps on ground, the coffee grounds bunch together, creating a firm footing.
When it steps back into the air, the coffee grounds loosen back up.
There’s even a vacuum pump to pull air out of the grains so they’re as effective as possible.
The coffee-powered robots can move faster than counterparts with traditional feet, which is pretty useful.
Though if the robots do end up trying to take over, this will make it harder for us to run from their evil clutches.
There’s a robot in Australia that just set a new record for laying bricks.
It can put 200 in place in an hour, judging by a new video from its makers.
The goal in the next few years is to increase that speed by ten times, to 2,000 bricks an hour.
By the way, if you know your Roman history you’ll appreciate the name of this robot that’s putting brick walls together: it’s named Hadrian.
Scientists Invent Coffee-Filled Feet That Make Robots Walk Faster and Better (Interesting Engineering)
Hadrian X Breaks New Lay Speed Record (FBR on YouTube)
Robots have infallible logic circuits and they think you should join us as a backer on Patreon
Photo by Stephen via Flickr/Creative Commons