Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2023 - 33

right shoes, body, sensors and tools, and
they could snap everything together,
then disassemble it to make a new one.
The design is flexible, sustainable, and
cost-effective. "
WORMS was conceived in 2022 as an
answer to NASA's Breakthrough, Innovative
and Game-changing (BIG) Idea
Challenge - an annual competition for
university students to design, develop,
and demonstrate a game-changing idea.
In 2022, NASA challenged students to
develop robotic systems that can move
across extreme terrain, without the use
of wheels.
A team from MIT's Space Resources
Workshop took up the challenge, aiming
specifically for a lunar robot design that
could navigate the extreme terrain of the
moon's South Pole - a landscape that is
marked by thick, fluffy dust; steep, rocky
slopes; and deep lava tubes.
As they mulled over ways to navigate
the Moon's polar terrain, the students
took inspiration from animals. " As we
were thinking of these animal inspirations,
we realized that one of the simplest
animals, the worm, makes similar
movements as an arm, or a leg, or a backbone,
or a tail, " said deputy team leader
and AeroAstro graduate student Michael
Brown. " And then the lightbulb went off:
We could build all these animal-inspired
robots using worm-like appendages.' "
The system's main parts include the
appendage, or worm, which can be atA
team of MIT engineers is designing a kit of universal robotic parts that an astronaut could easily
mix and match to build different robot " species " to fit various missions on the Moon. (Image: Hexapod
image courtesy of the researchers, edited by MIT News)
tached to a body, or chassis, via a " universal
interface block " that snaps the two
parts together through a twist-and-lock
mechanism. The parts can be disconnected
with a small tool that releases the
block's spring-loaded pins.
Appendages can also snap into accessories
such as a " shoe, " which the team
engineered in the shape of a wok, and a
LiDAR system that can map the surroundings
to help a robot navigate.
The team developed software that can
Gecko-Inspired Climbing Soft Robot
The untethered robot paves the way for potential surgical applications via remote operation
and for sensing or searching during rescue operations.
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A
tiny robot that could one day help
doctors perform surgery was inspired
by the incredible gripping ability
of geckos and the efficient locomotion
of inchworms.
The new robot, developed by engineers
at the University of Waterloo,
uses ultraviolet (UV) light and magnetic
force to move on any surface, even
up walls and across ceilings.
It is the first soft robot of its kind
that doesn't require connection to an
external power supply, enabling remote
operation and versatility for potential
applications such as assisting
surgeons and searching otherwise inaccessible
places.
Tech Briefs, May 2023
be tailored to coordinate multiple appendages.
As a proof of concept, the team built
a six-legged robot about the size of a gocart.
In the lab, they showed that once assembled,
the robot's independent limbs
worked to walk over level ground. The
team also showed that they could quickly
assemble and disassemble the robot in the
field, on a desert site in California.
For more information, contact Abby
Abazorius at abbya@mit.edu; 617-2532709.
The
robot, which is about 4-cm long, 3-mm, wide and 1-mm thick, can climb on a vertical wall and
across the ceiling without being tethered to a power source. (Image: University of Waterloo)
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