We’ve seen videos of people attaching chairs to gigantic welding robots and riding them around the shop, and while that would be fun for a little bit, the joy would be fleeting. Flight simulators built on a Stewart Platform are becoming old hat. Now there’s a new robot we want to ride.
[Saul Griffith] from Otherlab has been working on pneumatic robots for some time now, and he just wrapped up his Ant-Roach build seen above. It’s a 15-foot-long cross between an anteater and a cockroach that’s completely inflatable and can actually walk with the help of an air compressor.
The ‘muscles’ of the ant-roach are fabric actuators that contract when inflated. Of course this makes the mechanics look like something out a biology book, but the robot is still a neat piece of engineering. The ant-roach weighs in at 70 pounds but could probably support a half-ton of riders.
From the videos after the break, we can see that the ant-roach looks a little clumsy when walking. [Travis Deyle] sent in his contribution that details an amazing inflatable robotic arm that can beat any human in an arm wrestling match. Now we can’t wait for a giant anthropomorphized bouncy castle to start lumbering to a children’s carnival.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F7DfuALmptw&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vPKLe0yyOME&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=dY8gCMbZw10&w=470]
It’s not “walking” it’s boogying. Listen to those drum beats!
Now that’s a really cool idea.
Imagen using this as a rover on another planet?
So much space saving.
provided that other planet has an atmosphere that is suitable for inflating the robot. Otherwise you’d have to bring your own air with you.
Technically it doesn’t have to be air, as long as you can pressurize it with the atmosphere at hand, you should be golden.
Well its not breaking any speed records.. Id get bored riding it, I can walk 10 X faster. The welding robots are way cooler
maybe by using a lot of smaller chambers (legs) the walking process could be sped up, then again i dont know how bulky and complicated teh individual leg controls are.
Giant inflatable penis.
too spastic to walk. needs more work
I didn’t know Dr.Seuss was an electrical engineer.
I have to wonder why it has the shape it has. It looks so stupid as to have been designed with function in mind first, but it also looks so stupid as to have not had any thought as to form OR function. It’s shape just looks so pointless.
Probably simplicity of construction. It’s easier to make inflatable tubes attached to a bigger inflatable tube than something more complex.