Episode 13: Tendril-like robot inspired by plants

MRS Bulletin Materials News Podcast · Jul 2, 2019 · 5m

Sophia Chen of MRS Bulletin interviews Barbara Mazzolai and Edoardo Sinibaldi of the Italian Institute of Technology about their robot made from two types of polymers, enabling it to extend and retract like the tendrils of a plant. Read the article in Nature Communications. TranscriptSOPHIA CHEN: Barbara Mazzolai is designing robots inspired by plants. Recently, she and her research team at the Italian Institute of Technology have made a robot that looks like a plant tendril, similar to the ones that ivy plants might use to climb a trellis. She says they want to develop a robot that can…