With modern advanced technology, robots have been developing to assist human’s life. Many robots are widely used in the factory for massive, efficient and cost-effective production. They can prevent employees from injuries while working. There is no doubt that we are now more reliable on robots than ever. We can imagine that everyone will have a robot as an assistant to get a more convenient life in the future like a scientific fiction movie.
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Photo Credit: Alex Knight https://unsplash.com/search/photos/robot?photo=2EJCSULRwC8
However, we might be questioning that robots are never broken or injured like human? One idea that comes to our mind is regarding component ageing or malfunctioning. A research team in Belgium successfully created a soft robot partially made of rubbery polymer. The team carried out a test to see the robot’s reaction after stabbing the robot. As a result, this newly designed robot detected its injury and started to heal itself with heat. “The polymer has lots of different strands that lock together to form the material. When you add heat, they reorganize to stick back together without leaving any weak spots,” says Bram Vanderborght.
Photo Credit: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Soft robots will be a trend for personal care service! This kind of a robot can grip delicate things, which prevents some shocks or scratches if the robotic fingers are made of polymer. We also can imagine that people will have a better physical care by the soft robot because it doesn’t bruise the human body.
Regenerative soft robots might be a good fundamental technology for the future. As it gets more advanced, it can be applied in the 100% metal made robot. The robot would detect its components health state to decide whether they need to replace or fix their body parts by themselves. It will truly save a huge amount of labor costs.
News reference: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2144245-this-self-healing-robot-can-regenerate-after-being-stabbed/