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Studying Caterpillars to Design Robots
from the Boston Globe (Registration Required)
MEDFORD -- Inspiration for a new generation of soft-bodied robots that could burrow into inaccessible spots for everything from search-and-rescue to medical applications comes from a most unlikely place: the "moth closet'' at Tufts University.
In this nauseatingly stinky room, dozens of two-inch brownish moths cling to the wire-mesh walls of their cage. From the ceiling dangles the prize: Clusters of tiny greenish eggs cover a suspended sponge, providing the seeds of novel ideas about how to design flexible, squishy robots.
To gardeners, the greenish-blue, white-striped tobacco hornworms that will emerge from these eggs are pests. But to scientists, these caterpillars are feats of engineering, and the way their bodies move like accordions and crumple as they crawl has helped inspire several species of soft-bodied robots sitting on the shelves of a nearby laboratory.
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