Using 3D printing technology, a high-tech spider has been developed which can be used as a tool in hazardous situations.
"The robot spider's legs are 20 centimeters long. Elastic bellows drives serve as joints." Caption and image credit: Fraunhofer IPA
Do you share my hatred of spiders? Are you an arachnophobic? Do the eight-legged beasties give you the heebie-jeebies? Especially the ones that can jump? If so, prepare to have a new starring character in your nightmares: Robospider.
The robotic creepy crawly is made with a 3D printer and is a product of the Fraunhofer Institute – a body which is using 3D printing technology in some interesting ways, including to create artificial blood vessels, but which might be more familiar to people as the inventors of the wildly popular MP3 audio file format.
The spider was designed to be used as an exploratory tool in hazardous environments – think chemical, nuclear accident or collapsed building – and can be equipped with various sensors and an onboard camera enabling it to stream live video.
Real spiders use a sort of hydraulic system to move. The robotic spiders move in much the same way with elastic drive bellows in the legs being powered by a compressor pump housed in the body. Some models are able to create enough pressure to be able to jump (which, I have to say, is totally gross).
To print the spiders, a process called selective laser sintering is used, about which Wikipedia says this:
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a high power laser (for example, a carbon dioxide laser) to fuse small particles of plastic, metal (direct metal laser sintering), ceramic, or glass powders into a mass that has a desired 3-dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital description of the part (for example from a CAD file or scan data) on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a new layer of material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the part is completed.
The spiders cost very little to make. “Our robot is so cheap to produce that it can be discarded after being used just once – like a disposable rubber glove,” said Ralf Becker, a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute. There are pros and cons to this. On one hand, it means that cost should not be an obstacle to the creation and use of these potentially life-saving spiders. On the other hand, it means your kids may be able to buy one with their allowance and loose it in your bedroom while you sleep …
Source: Fraunhofer Institute
