Japanese Soft Robots

Posted 2 Jul 2004 at 23:24 UTC by steve

A recent New Scientist article highlights the shape-changing soft robots developed by Shinichi Hirai and Yuuta Sugiyama at Ritsumeikan University in Kusatsu, Japan. The wheel-shaped robots move by continously alterning their shape. They are able to roll over flat surfaces, climb up to 20-degree slopes, and jump up to 8 centimeters into the air simply by changing their shape. More photos and video are available on Yuuta's website.