As if there weren't enough real jellyfish around to trigger our thalassophobia, researchers at Virginia Tech have created Cryo -- an eight-armed autonomous robot that mimics jelly movement with the help of a flexible silicone hat. The man-sized jellybot altogether dwarfs pre
vious efforts, hence the upgrade from small tank to swimming pool for mock field tests. And unlike the passively propelled bots we'veseen recently, Cryo runs on batteries, with the researchers hoping to better replicate the energy-efficient nature of jelly movement to eventually increase Cryo's charge cycle to months instead of hours. That's also the reason these robotic jellyfish are getting bigger -- because the larger they are, the further they can go.Potential uses include ocean monitoring and perhaps clearing oil spills, but the US Navy, which is funding the work, sees an opportunity to recruit jellies for underwater surveillance -- a job the researchers say is suited to their natural-looking disguise. But, before the tables are turned, you can spy on Cryo for yourself in the video below.
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Robotics is finally taking the form of reality and what was once considered only fiction is right here in front of us. We have always seen robots being portrayed as powerful machines that are capable of lifting heavy stuff and able to perform feats of great strength. Today’s post is about one such research which is being carried out at UC Berkeley that aims to provide us with robots that which the same Superman strength. The Berkeley Labs has stated that it has achieved ‘Robot-muscles’ which are a thousand times stronger than an average human
