TECH FRONT The Latest R&D News in Manufacturing and Technology


Meet Salto, a close cousin of Earth’s most agile animal


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cientists at the University of California, Berkeley, de- signed a small robot capable of performing multiple vertical jumps in a row and jumping off walls—making


it the most vertically agile robot yet. The researchers defined agility as the height that some- thing can reach with a single jump in Earth gravity, multi- plied by the frequency at which that jump can be made. A small, nocturnal primate called the galago inspired


the robot’s design. “By combining biologically inspired design principles


with improved engineering technology, matching the agile performance of animals may not be that far off,” said Ronald Fearing, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley and a co-author of a paper outlining the discovery. While the Salto robot achieved 78% of the vertical jumping ability of the galago, it’s important to note that other robots, such as the TAUB, a locust-inspired jumping robot, can jump higher in a single leap. The research was published in the debut issue of the journal Science Robotics in December. The research was sup- ported by the US Army Research Laboratory under the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology Collaborative Technol- ogy Alliance, as well as by the National Science Foundation.


Explosives detector gets help from dog-like nose


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A team at UC Berkeley cooked up a diminutive jumping robot that mimics the energy-storing capabilities of a nocturnal primate called the galago.


With the ability to


jump five times in four seconds to a combined height of 8.5 meters, the galago is the most agile animal in nature. It can


store energy in its tendons when in a crouched position, and therefore can jump to heights not achievable by muscle strength alone. The UC Berkeley team’s robot—called Salto for saltatorial


locomotion on terrain obstacles—mimics the energy-storing capabilities of the galago. Inside the robot is a spring, which loads using a leg mechanism to imitate the crouch position and store energy in the same way the galago does. By using this technique, the robot doesn’t need to “wind up” before a jump; as soon as it jumps, Salto is ready to jump again. Ultimately, the researchers hope that one day, verti- cally agile robots can be used to jump around in rubble in search-and-rescue missions.


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ne team of researchers discovered that to improve chemical detection devices, it doesn’t hurt to look at one of nature’s best chemical detectors for


inspiration: the dog. Researchers from National Institute of Standards and


Technology (NIST), MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and the US FDA found that affixing a 3D-printed dog nose to the end of a commercially available explosives detector improved odorant detection significantly. Current chemical-detection technologies use continuous


suction. The dog’s nose, however, detects scents by sniffing five times a second. The “active sniffing” of the dog can pull in aromas from further away than constant inhalation. “The dog is an active aerodynamic sampling system that


literally reaches out and grabs odorants,” said Matthew Stay- mates, a mechanical engineer and fluid dynamicist at NIST. “It uses fluid dynamics and entrainment to increase its


aerodynamic reach to sample vapors at increasingly large distances. Applying this bio-inspired design principle could lead to significantly improved vapor samplers for detecting explosives, narcotics, pathogens—even cancer.” Using a 3D printer, Staymates and his colleagues cre- ated a replica of a female Labrador’s nose, including the


Katelyn DaMour Digital Editor


March 2017 Photo courtesy Stephen McNally/UC Berkeley


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