/ News
Future Robots Will Be Soft And Shaped Like Squids
Someday soon, your life may be saved by a weird-looking octopus, squid, or caterpillar – a squishy, form-changing, animal-like device that’s actually a soft robot.
Scientists are exploring the fluidity and deformable nature of animals like those mentioned above, as well as insects, starfish, and lizards. Their goal is to combine the maneuverability of these creatures with the autonomous nature of the hard-shelled robots we’re all familiar with—think R2-D2.
The ability of soft robots to climb onto textured surfaces and irregular shapes, crawl along wires and ropes, and burrow into complex, confined spaces will take them to places the hard robots of today can’t venture. In the biomedical field, they could assist in surgeries, while in search and rescue missions; they could crawl into hazardous situations to aid victims.
While a life-saving soft robot may not be a reality for several years, teams from various disciplines—computer science, organic chemistry, biomechanics, biomimetic robotics, flexible electronics, mechanical engineering, and materials development—are all making advances. Contributions to this field are also being made by neuroscience, polymer chemistry, control systems, and biomedical engineering.
Two groups at the forefront of this research are located in the Boston area. At Tufts University, professor Barry Trimmer heads one of the first groups to explore soft animal neuromechanics and how soft structures can be controlled through electrical motors.
At Harvard, a team of researchers led by professor George Whitesides, has developed a soft, silicone-based robot that looks much like an octopus. With a focus more on chemistry, the Whitesides Research Group is exploring elastomers, such as silicon polymer, and how the use of pneumatics—inflation and pressure—can change the shape of soft robots and power them.
According to Trimmer, soft robotics requires a new perspective for engineers. Typically, engineering theory deals with stiff materials and engineers have been trained to make sure what they build—whether it’s a bridge or a car—has minimal deformity under normal activity.
Soft materials, because they can change shape, are often considered to be problem that needs solving. “Soft material engineering is not taught much, and the engineering world needs to catch up fast,” Trimmer says. “Rarely are engineers encouraged to think about how they can build out of completely different materials.
“This would give them access to a whole new world of capabilities. Think of the proteins and sugars found in human bodies. These are amazing materials with fantastic properties that have never been used or exploited,” Trimmer says.
While this type of study won’t supersede current engineering, it will be an important part of the design of structures in the future. The promised applications are however some way off.
“There are still huge issues that need to be addressed,” Trimmer notes, “particularly in terms of developing a good framework and tools to support our theoretical approach.”
One area that needs to be advanced is soft material simulation tools. There is no means yet to build or model a device in a computer and simulate how it’s going to work as engineers do currently with structures such as aircraft.
Another challenge is the electronics that power the soft robots. “A rotary electric motor won’t work because it’s built of stiff materials and will limit the capability of a soft robot,” Trimmer says.
The Harvard team is using pressurized gas or liquid to power their robots, but it still has to use pumps and values and other equipment to drive the pressure. Trimmer’s group is exploring micro-coil shaped memory alloy wire, which can pull great force when current is passed through it. Trimmer and his team are also looking for a solution that is more like muscle, with electrically active polymers; the group is also using stem cells to grow muscles for their research.
The final major challenge is the control of movement of the robots. “Currently, engineering theory around controlling movement is for rigid systems,” Trimmer says. “This fails miserably when applied to deformable structures.”
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ptc/2013/12/03/future-robots-will-be-soft-and-shaped-like-squids/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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