Chameleon's Tongue One Quick Snatcher
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Some chameleons can snatch a cricket in 20 milliseconds; the average human blinks in about 300 milliseconds (on the quick end).\\xa0
A team of researchers at Purdue's FlexiLab created high-speed prestressed soft actuators that mimic the chameleon's quick tongue using elastic energy. The robots are made of stretchable polymers, like rubber bands, only with internal pneumatic channels that expand when they are pressurized.
The prestressed pneumatic soft robot can expand five times its length, catch a live fly beetle and retrieve it, all in 120 milliseconds.\\xa0
According to the researchers, the work could make future robots faster and more accurate.\\xa0
And if that isn't cool enough, the team also mimicked the three-toed woodpecker to make a high-speed gripper and a Venus flytrap to make a soft robot that snaps closed in 50 milliseconds.\\xa0
The new actuators could lead to advancements in robotics because they can grip and hold objects up to 100 times their weight without any external power.
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