Free Republic 3rd Qtr 2025 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $0
0%  
Woo hoo!! 3rd Qtr 2025 FReepathon is now underway!!

Keyword: oddwheel

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Wheel Made of ‘Odd Matter’ Spontaneously Rolls Uphill

    06/16/2022 12:05:38 AM PDT · by LibWhacker · 8 replies
    Quantamagazine ^ | 6/15/2022 | Ben Brubaker
    Physicists have solved a key problem of robotic locomotion by revising the usual rules of interaction between simple component parts. In cycling through a sequence of shapes, an odd wheel propels itself up steep and bumpy terrain. In a physics lab in Amsterdam, there’s a wheel that can spontaneously roll uphill by wiggling. This “odd wheel” looks simple: just six small motors linked together by plastic arms and rubber bands to form a ring about 6 inches in diameter. When the motors are powered on, it starts writhing, executing complicated squashing and stretching motions and occasionally flinging itself into the...