Now, roly-poly, untethered, combustion-powered robot that jumps

A new study has revealed about a novel, fully untethered soft robot capable of repeated jumping and is able to cover half a meter in a single hop-and-roll motion.

The innovative design of this combustion-powered robot, based on a roly-poly toy, and how it returns to an upright position after each jump is described in a fascinating study published in Soft Robotics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Michael Loepfe, Christoph Schumacher, Urs Lustenberger and Wendelin Stark, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering (Zurich, Switzerland), describe a soft robot powered by a mixture of nitrous oxide/propane/butane gas that can function even over rough terrain.

The authors provide a detailed description of the activity of the robot and suggest future advances that could improve the jumping ability and performance of the robot.

Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer said that although this robot is a hybrid of soft and hard components, he thinks it demonstrates how incorporating new materials can open up all sorts of robot capabilities.

The article is available on the Soft Robotics website.