Spare Some Coffee and a Balloon and You’ve Got Yourself a further Hand [Robots]

We’ve already established that used coffee grounds can power radios, but before you have got your morning cup of coffee consider that those beans might be fashioned into one more hand, when squeezed into an air-less balloon.

DARPA, who funded the project, claims it ” can be available to buy tomorrow,” due to how easy it’s to make. All you wish to have is something to suck the complete air out of the balloon, which clumps the coffee grounds together. When attached to a mechanical arm (ok, not exactly something the typical person has lying around their house, granted), the balloon can actually suck up objects, and carry them without dropping.

Coffee is the right material for filling the balloon with apparently, as they’re heavier and ” are like plenty of small gears…after they don’t seem to be pressed together they could roll over each other and flow. After they are pressed together a little bit, teeth interlock, and they become solid.” [ PNAS via Hizook via BotJunkie via The Register ]

QUICKER PICKER UPPER from Science News on Vimeo .

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This post is tagged: coffee grounds, cup of coffee, little-bit, mechanical arm, science news, typical person