According to media reports, if you have watched the animated film "The Jetsons", you should still have memories of the mighty robotic team that wanders around. Now, a group of Swiss scientists have developed a smaller robotic module that can be freely combined like Lego bricks to create different forms of "furniture." A small group of robots quickly shuttled through your room, just the kitchen table, and now turned into a rocking chair on the balcony. Researchers hope to help the elderly or disabled with this robot. Massimo Vispinani, an engineer at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, said: "A long time ago, some people came up with the idea of ​​designing 'module components that can self-assemble and transform shapes', but how to use these modules, everyone There are no good ideas.†Vispinani and his colleagues decided to apply this idea to robotic furniture. Each roombot is a completely separate entity, 9 inches (about 22 cm) in length, like a pair of tweezers connected together. It has a battery inside and three small motors that move in three different directions. The Roombot also comes with a set of retractable claws that hook into other modules to form a larger structure. These robot modules have two modes of operation: one is to connect to other modules along the grid route on the floor or wall, and the second is to detach from the grid and shuttle freely in the room. The ingenuity of the researchers' design is not only that these robotic modules can be grouped together to form furniture, but they can also be connected to existing furniture. The practice is to put a special material on the floor, walls, and traditional furniture. These materials are equipped with small holes that the roombot's small claws can hook. The research team is now experimenting with different ways to control furniture, such as using a tablet , voice or gesture recognition. Vispinani believes that these robots may have more autonomy in order to serve the elderly, but fully autonomous robots should not be available. Researchers say the robot module is currently only in the prototype stage and is expected to go into production in the next 20 years. There are still many limitations in the current prototype. For example, the assembled stool can not bear the weight of one person, and the battery can only last for one hour. But researchers believe that these issues will be resolved in the future. In the future, roombots may share energy and connect to the module group to achieve charging. Hebei Haiao Wire Mesh Products Co., Ltd. , https://www.haiaowiremeshfencing.com
Switzerland develops a new type of free assembly transformation form future robot