tensegrity
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NASA shows off a squishy robot rover that could land on Titan (video)
NASA likes to pack light for extraterrestrial visits, so it has been developing a tensegrity rover -- a rod-based robot that uses cable tension to absorb blows and roll around, rather than a bulky chassis. Thanks to the agency's demo for IEEE Spectrum, we now know what a prototype of the explorer, Super Ball Bot, looks like in action. While it's not very graceful with only some of its motors working, the vehicle has little trouble getting across a room by squishing itself. The clever design should come in handy for a potential mission to Saturn's moon Titan. Since the robot collapses into a smaller shape, NASA could pack multiple units into one spacecraft and study more of the moon's surface. It also wouldn't require the usual airbags or parachutes to land; a Super Ball Bot could fall from more than 62 miles above Titan without taking damage. Any interplanetary expedition is still years away, but it's already evident that future rovers could bear little in common with their modern-day equivalents.
Self-assembling nanodevices could advance medicine one tiny leap at a time
Seems like Harvard wasn't content with making robotic bees, and has taken its quest for miniaturization right down to the nanoscale level. One nanometer-wide, single-stranded DNA molecules are the topic of the university's latest research, which sets out a way they can be used to create "3D prestressed tensegrity structures." Should these theoretical scribblings ever pan out in the real world, we could see the resulting self-assembled nanodevices facilitating drug delivery targeted directly at the diseased cells, and even the reprogramming of human stem cells. Infusing a nanodevice with the relevant DNA data passes instructions on to your stem cells, which consequently turn into, for example, new bone tissue or neurons to augment your fleshy CPU. Yes, we're kinda freaked out, but what's cooler than being able to say you're going to the doctor for a shot of nanotransformers?
Tensegrity prosthetic foot promises to make walking easier
It may not boast built-in Bluetooth or an array of sensors and motors, but inventor Jerome Rifkin says his so-called Tensegrity prosthetic foot can nonetheless give amputees a more natural gait and make it easier for them to walk across difficult terrain. That's apparently possible thanks to a unique but simple mid-foot joint, which takes the place of the ankle joint more commonly found in prosthetic feet and creates a flexible arch in the middle of the foot. A range of springs and tensioned cables are used to control it and a second joint at the toe, which simply respond to the natural pressure of walking and adapt to uneven terrain. As you can see for yourself in the video of the most recent prototype after the break, that setup appears to work remarkably well, and Rifkin has even thankfully managed to tone down some of the squeaking noise that plagued earlier prototypes.
