12-05-2019, 12:05 AM
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style...32801.html
Researchers have trained a piece of plastic “to walk” using a new light-controlling technique.
It is the first time an inanimate object has been taught to move in this way without using computer programming, scientists at Tampere University in Finland said.
The advanced polymers are able to travel around 1mm per second – about the same speed as a garden snail – using a thermo-responsive coat of dye to convert energy into mechanical motion.
“Our research is essentially asking the question if an inanimate material can somehow learn in a very simplistic sense,” said senior author Arri Priimägi, of Tampere University.
“My colleague, Professor Olli Ikkala from Aalto University, posed the question: ‘Can materials learn, and what does it mean if materials would learn?’ We then joined forces in this research to make robots that would somehow learn new tricks.”
There is a video clip in the article (and sadly, I can't find it uploaded on YouTube or anywhere) - but, basically, it's a light-sensitive material which bends in response to light - and it uses this bending to 'walk' forwards.
Interesting little demo - although, if it requires lights switching on and off in order to do anything, what'll be the best way to apply it to do something useful?
Researchers have trained a piece of plastic “to walk” using a new light-controlling technique.
It is the first time an inanimate object has been taught to move in this way without using computer programming, scientists at Tampere University in Finland said.
The advanced polymers are able to travel around 1mm per second – about the same speed as a garden snail – using a thermo-responsive coat of dye to convert energy into mechanical motion.
“Our research is essentially asking the question if an inanimate material can somehow learn in a very simplistic sense,” said senior author Arri Priimägi, of Tampere University.
“My colleague, Professor Olli Ikkala from Aalto University, posed the question: ‘Can materials learn, and what does it mean if materials would learn?’ We then joined forces in this research to make robots that would somehow learn new tricks.”
There is a video clip in the article (and sadly, I can't find it uploaded on YouTube or anywhere) - but, basically, it's a light-sensitive material which bends in response to light - and it uses this bending to 'walk' forwards.
Interesting little demo - although, if it requires lights switching on and off in order to do anything, what'll be the best way to apply it to do something useful?