Sticky Actuators, Adhesive Pouches That Can Move Simple Robots and Animate Objects By Inflating and Deflating

Researchers at MIT and The University of Tokyo have developed Sticky Actuators, simple adhesive pouches that can be used to move robots or animate objects by inflating and deflating. The pouches, which can be printed on a custom fabrication machine, serve as extremely simple motors that can be used by people with little or no robotics experience.

We have also created a control system that the user can use to record a sequence of inflating and deflating actions. The system consists of an Arduino board, a motor driver, miniature pumps, solenoid valves, a battery and buttons.

via IEEE Spectrum, Boing Boing