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An Israeli research team led by Professor David Zarruk has created a 3D printed snake-like robot powered by just one motor.
David Zarruk of Ben-Gurion University is well known in the world of robotics and additive technologies. In recent years, he has created a number of innovative designs, such as the six-legged STAR robot, which has found its equally nimble followers. This time David decided to please the world with the SAW robot ("Single-Actuator Wave" or "Single-Actuator Wave").
In his report, Zarruk describes the project as a bionic robot moving by constantly generated wave motion. In other words, like an artificial snake. In this case, forward and backward movement is provided by just one motor, and the side wheels serve only to change the direction of travel.
While this is just a simple research project, but purely theoretically, a similar method of movement could become the basis for drones with almost unlimited passability, capable of moving both on land and on water, and miniature versions could be used as medical micro-robots. The idea came to the inventor back in 2004, when he was working on his diploma: “Even then I realized that only one motor is desirable for a drive, but implementation in practice turned out to be a rather difficult task. Later, while working on my Ph.D., I developed a robot worm and concluded that a wave drive would be great for navigating the digestive system, and using a simple design with only a motor would allow for the necessary degree of miniaturization. "
The rest is a matter of technology. Realizing that the cross-section of the spiral is a circle, and the longitudinal wave, David set about building a robot-driven from tracked tracks driven by a spiral shaft.
The 3D printed snake not only has a high cross-country ability, but in the largest of the already manufactured versions, it is capable of reaching an impressive speed of more than half a meter per second. And yes, the design scales easily. Of course, the project has not yet reached perfection: the first two tasks to be solved by the designer are an improved steering system and the ability to calibrate the drive for different environments in order to increase reliability: on uneven surfaces like gravel, the "snake" sometimes slips.
