Section:GDN 1N PaGe:12 Edition Date:190808 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 7/8/2019 19:19 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Thursday 8 August 2019
(^12) National
Robot, heal thyself: scientists create
machines with self-repairing hands
Daniel Boff ey
Brussels
From picking fruit to minor surgery,
robotic hands made from jelly-like
plastic may be the future solution to
many human needs, scientists believe.
But being gentle and soft enough
to avoid damaging fruit or fl esh has
made the robots prone to damage and
largely impractical for use in the real
world – until now.
A European commission-funded
project, led by scientists working at
the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels and
the University of Cambridge, aims to
create “self-healing ” robots that can
feel pain or sense damage and patch
themselves up without human inter-
vention. The researchers have already
developed polymers that can heal by
creating new bonds after about 40
minutes.
The next step will be to embed
sensor fi bres in the polymer that can
detect where the damage is located.
The goal is to make the healing
The self-healing project i s seeking
to create what it describes as “anthro-
pomorphic materials, capable of
feeling pain”. Autonomous self-heal-
ing poly mers would exclude the need
for heating devices and costs.
Depending on the size of the dam-
age and even more on the location of
it, trials so far suggest the healing can
take between second and a week in
room-temperature conditions.
The two universities are working
with the École Supérieure de Physique
et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris, and
the Swiss Federal Laboratories for
Materials Science and Technology
alongside the Dutch polymer manu-
facturer SupraPolix.
The development could be a boon
to the agricultural sector, but govern-
ments worldwide are preparing for a
robotic age in low-skilled jobs. A recent
European commission report sug-
gested 43% of jobs in the UK could be
fi lled by robots in the future.
automatic, avoiding the current need
for human intervention through an
integrated heating system.
Professor Bram Vanderborght of the
Vrije Universiteit, who is managing the
project, said the research was pioneer-
ing a new generation of robotics.
“Over the past few years, we have
already taken the fi rst steps in creat-
ing self-healing materials for robots.
“W e want to continue and, above
all, ensure that robots that are used
in our working environment are safer,
but also more sustainable. Due to the
self-repair mechanism of this new kind
of robots, complex, costly repairs may
be a thing of the past.”
Soft robotic hands made through 3D
printing are able to manipulate fragile
objects with dexterity and are safer
for humans to work around in facto-
ries and fi elds.
Grippers used for picking and pack-
ing fruit and vegetables are smooth to
prevent bacteria and fungus growth,
but they are vulnerable to cracks and
rips. The cost of replacement parts is
said to be in excess of £320m a year.
Self-healing robot hands in jelly-like
plastic, created by 3D printing
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