{"id":668047,"date":"2025-05-09T06:10:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T03:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/this-soft-robot-thinks-with-its-legs\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T06:10:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T03:10:22","slug":"this-soft-robot-thinks-with-its-legs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-soft-robot-thinks-with-its-legs\/","title":{"rendered":"This soft robot ‘thinks’ with its legs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The authors with their robot. From left to right: Alberto Comoretto, Harmannus A.H. Schomaker, Johannes T.B. Overvelde. Credit: AMOLF
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A research team from AMOLF in Amsterdam has created a soft robot that walks, hops, and swims\u2014all without a brain, electronics, or AI. Just soft tubes, air, and some clever physics.<\/p>\n

The study published<\/a> in Science<\/a><\/i> describes one of the fastest soft robots yet, and one of the simplest. It has no computer, no software, and no sensors. And still, it moves with surprising coordination and autonomy, simply because of its body and how it interacts with the world.<\/p>\n

So, what’s really driving it? Underneath the movement is a principle you’ve probably seen, though maybe overlooked. Think of those wobbly, inflatable tube dancers flailing around in front of gas stations. The same physics that makes them wiggle could hold the key to the next generation of autonomous robots.<\/p>\n

Powered by a continuous stream of air alone, each of the robot’s soft, tubular legs begins to oscillate\u2014not unlike those tube dancers. On its own, each leg waves around randomly. But when many are coupled together, something unexpected happ<\/a>ens: their motions quickly synchronize, falling into rhythmic locomotion gaits.<\/p>\n

“Suddenly, order emerges from chaos,” says first author Alberto Comoretto. “There’s no code, no instructions. The legs simply fall into sync spontaneously, and the robot takes off.” As with fireflies flashing in synchrony or heart cells pulsating in unison, complex collective motions arise from simple interactions.<\/p>\n

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A summary movie showcasing the robot’s behavior and underlying physics. Credit: AMOLF\/Alberto Comoretto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it’s fast. When a flow of air is given as input, the robot hits 30 body lengths per second. Relatively speaking, a Ferrari reaches “only” 20 lengths per second. This speed is orders of magnitude faster than other air-powered robots, which typically require centralized control.<\/p>\n

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Even more surprising: the synchronization adapts. If the robot runs into an obstacle, it reorients itself. When it moves from land to water, the gait spontaneously shifts from an in-phase hopping pattern to a swimming freestyle. These transitions happen without any central processor or control logic. Instead, movement emerges from the tight coupling between body and environment.<\/p>\n

“In biology, we often see similar decentralized intelligence,” explains co-author Mannus Schomaker. “Sea stars, for example, coordinate hundreds of tube feet using local feedback and body dynamics, not a centralized brain.”<\/p>\n