Claytronics Demo: A Novel Latching Mechanism for Macroscale Robots

摘要

One of the challenges in implementing modular robotics is an efficient robust latching mechanism. We show a latch based on electrostatic adhesion. The latch is self-aligning, requires only a small battery, quickly engages and disengages, and can hold ≈ 0.5 Newtons per square centimeter of latch area. In this demonstration we use the latch to join two prototype cubic robots, each of which is 30 centimeters on a side.