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Novel snake-like robot 3D prints its own body to grow longer

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novel snake like robot
FiloBot mimics and represents skototropisms, involving growth directed toward shaded areas beneath leaves. Credit: Science Robotics (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adi5908

A group of researchers specializing in soft robotics at Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Italy, collaborating with a colleague from the University of Montpellier in France, has devised an innovative robotic system that utilizes 3D printing to construct its own body, enabling it to extend in length. The team outlines the development process and potential applications of this unique robot in a paper published in the journal Science Robotics.

As advancements in science and technology progress, scientists explore inventive ways to integrate different innovations, giving rise to emerging forms of technology. In this recent endeavor, the research team merged the realms of robotics and 3D printing, resulting in the creation of a distinctive robot capable of intentional lengthening.

A snake-shaped robot, named FiloBot, employs additive manufacturing principles and mimics climbing plant behaviors to navigate through unstructured environments. The robot features a spinning head that utilizes 3D printing to generate additional body mass, causing the robot to elongate. Programmable growth options, such as moving towards light or defying gravity, enable the robot to adopt a vine-like growth pattern.

FiloBot incorporates a tube within its body that supplies a 3D printer ink, a type of plastic, to the rotating head. The head prints in a coiling manner, extending the robot’s body. The rear end of the robot contains a base housing the inkwell, a pump, and a power source.

The head of FiloBot includes electronics that respond to signals from external sensors, allowing the control of the printer’s output. This control mechanism regulates the spin rate and ink supply, providing direction to the growth process.

The researchers envision various applications for FiloBot, such as monitoring or interacting with natural environments, constructing autonomous structures, assessing avalanche or landslide risks, and conducting pollution level tests in challenging terrains.

novel snake like robot 1
Simplified representation of the growth zones, their functions, and growth responses. The shoot apex comprises layers of cells that constitute the meristematic part (point 1) and the cell elongation region (point 2). Photoreceptors and gravity- sensing cells are distributed within the shoot apex. Perception of external signals is thus localized in the apical part, where actuation is also implemented. Processing of an external stimulus dictates cell growth, elongation, and the resulting orientation of the shoot. In the example, photo-perception defines the shoot movement toward light merged with gravity perception against gravity. Credit: Science Robotics (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adi5908
novel snake like robot 2
Schematic representation of the growing robot regions, their functionalities, and growth responses. Analogous to the shoot apex, the robot comprises sensing elements and a material deposition region localized at its head (points 1 and 2). In the meristem- like region, there is the addition of material and the generation of forces needed to propel the tip forward. Control of the plotting defines either a lower or higher material layer along the stem axis analogous to differential cell division and elongation. In analogy with the biological model, the robot processes sensory inputs and defines a differential material deposition both toward light and against gravity. In both the natural and artificial models, the already grown part of the body no longer moves or reorientates with respect to the environment. Credit: Science Robotics (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adi5908

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