Soft robots can play piano thanks to the ‘air-powered’ memory

Soft robots still tend to rely on hard electronics to function, but new discoveries can reduce the need for the chip that is not appropriate. UC Riverside researcher has developed the pneumatic computer memory they use to help the keyboard rotate soft robots.

Instead of conventional transistors and electrical circuits, “air-powered” memory depends on the microfluidal valve that controls the air flow. Atmospheric pressure on a particular valve represents binary “0,” while the vacuum shows “1.” The memory of the researchers has a fairly complex array of this valve to function like an 8-bit RAM chip – not too strong, but it’s pretty good so that a pair of soft robot hands can play “Mary has small sheep” slowly but fixed speed.

The absence of positive pressure makes this very safe – there is no memory danger exploding in middle use.

This technology is far from ready for everyday use. In addition to needing improvement in complexity and speed, the robot will require a soft version of the processor and other components to fully eliminate the need for rigid electronics. The goal is clear. Pneumatic memory can at least reduce the need for chips in a soft robot, and point to the future of a fully flexible robotics that should not hurt you if there is a collision.