In 2010, robotics researchers at Cornish University developed an automated robot gripper that was filled with coffee grounds. And recently the same group made something even more amazing and unusual – a series of robots with a soft body, which is filled with popcorn and powered by the same.
Such an unusual development resulted from research aimed at “creating inexpensive and simple automated devices that can grasp other objects, change their shape and rigidity. Popcorn turned out to be a good enough choice for use in such robots, it is cheap, affordable, I its kernels when heated increase in volume by 10 times.
One of the devices created was a grip consisting of three silicone “fingers” filled with popcorn kernels. These kernels were heated with a nichrome wire and inflated, which caused the gripper to shrink, change shape, and hold the object. The nichrome wire, in addition to its role as a heater, served to give some rigidity to the entire device.
Another device was created on the principles of origami, and microwave beams were used to heat the popcorn kernels in it. When these grains were blown, the device gained stiffness and developed enough force to hold the weight of 4 kilograms.
Naturally, such devices, cornbots, are disposable items. Nevertheless, because of their simplicity and cheapness, they can be used in a variety of fields “The goal of our work is to create minimalistic robotic devices. Such devices can be made in very large quantities and used despite their disposable nature,” the researchers write, “We are constantly looking for new and unusual ideas, and using popcorn is just an example of such an idea.”
