Chameleon's elastic tongue inspires fast-acting robots

News

Engineers from Purdue University in the US have taken inspiration from the incredible fly-catching ability of chameleons and salamanders to develop a new class of high-speed soft robots and actuators.

Chameleons, salamanders and many toads use stored elastic energy to launch their sticky tongues at unsuspecting insects located up to one-and-a-half body lengths away, catching them within a tenth of a second.

Led by Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering,  the team has developed a new class of soft robots and actuators capable of re-creating these high-powered and high-speed motions using stored elastic energy.

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The robots are fabricated using stretchable polymers similar to rubber bands, with internal pneumatic channels that expand upon pressurisation. The elastic energy of these robots is stored by stretching their body in one or multiple directions during the fabrication process.

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