Soft Gel Robot and it's applications

Soft Gel Robot and it's applications:

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have developed a soft robot made of gel — called Gelbot.It’s actually the culmination of brilliant design, detailed by researchers in the journal of Science Robotics.

• It can worm its way around inside the human body or on external surfaces.

• Used to deliver drugs to affected areas or carry out a range of other functions. 

• Gelbot does not require batteries, wiring, or any external power supply.

• It can move just on the swelling and shrinking of the gel.

• Motions can be strategically manipulated to move robots forward and backward on flat surfaces, or to essentially have them crawl with a wave-like motion. 

• Next step will be to train them to crawl using human biomarkers as stimuli featuring sensors or cameras.

• Exposed to temperature variations.

• It's created by 3D printing, and would be easy to mass produce.

• They can be simply disposed of, or even eaten, as all the materials used are also edible.

• It’s a breakthrough in the world of soft robotics, which is a fairly self-descriptive industry. 

• Easy to manufacture.

Hopkins researchers aren’t the first to draw inspiration from nature. Many scientists have discovered that natural forms and organisms are miraculous in their perfectly efficient patterns, honed over ages of evolution. 

One of the most promising frontiers is the exploration of water-based gels that have the elastic bounce of gummy bears, which hold the potential to create more “human-like” robots.