CHAPTER 1 BOTS THAT BEND Robots can do amazing things Many robots can climb crawl and pick up objects Some can even hang upside down But how is this all possible In many cases nature holds the answer Robot designers often study animals and plants Then they borrow some of nature’s best ideas for their robots Many robots look and move like humans animals or plants 5
Imitating nature to solve human problems is called biomimicry For instance one group of scientists studied the way snakes move In 2008 they created Snakebot This robot has 16 motors along its body When the motors move Snakebot crawls across the floor Snakebot can also wrap around a person’s leg The robot may be useful for search and rescue The same scientists also invented HARP This robot looks like a snake too But it is designed to help with heart surgery Other scientists created the Bionic Handling Assistant in 2010 This robotic arm is similar to an elephant’s trunk 6
A scientist shows how a snake robot can crawl up a tube It has three flexible segments These segments allow the arm to bend The end of the arm has gripper fingers They can bend and wrap around objects much like an elephant’s trunk can 7
