Robots with sticky feet can climb up, down, and all around
Wyss Institute, 2018 · Science Robotics
Validate centimetre-scale locomotion on vertical, inverted and curved conductive surfaces.
READING ROOM / 03
Resources
Papers, experimental material and original project links.
Meet the robots
Rolls-Royce · public research report, 2019
Reach combustor liners through limited access and patch damaged ceramic coatings.
EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor)
NASA/JPL · robotics project and field-test records
A segmented body uses rotating screws for motion tests on ice, snow and sand.
K-Track: A Kirigami-Inspired Tracked Robot With Negative Pressure Co-operative Adhesion for Wall-to-Wall Transition
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Kirigami-inspired adhesive tracks work with negative-pressure preload to cross changing surface geometries.
Unified active compliance enables miniature robots to traverse diverse surfaces
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences
A unified active-compliance mechanism adapts to varied surfaces, with visual-inspection tests inside a decommissioned engine.
Stanford researchers develop a new type of soft, growing robot
Stanford Engineering · 2017 research report
A flexible tube grows by eversion at its tip, offering another way to move around obstacles.
Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain’s blood vessels
MIT · 2019 research report
A magnetic field steers a slender thread, with a hydrogel coating to reduce friction.
Robotics & AI technology landscape
Innovate UK Business Connect, 2020, pp. 142–143
Inspect neighbouring compressor-blade edges through existing borescope ports.
Meet the robots
Rolls-Royce · public research report, 2019
Inspect internal engine areas difficult to reach with conventional probes.
ReachBot Field Tests in a Mojave Desert Lava Tube as a Martian Analog
IEEE ICRA Workshop on Field Robotics, 2024 · arXiv:2405.15005
Microspine grippers at the ends of extendable booms find anchors on rock surfaces.
SOLO: Save Time, Save Money
RedZone Robotics · 2020
The tracked SOLO robot is deployed through a manhole to collect interior imagery for sewer assessment.
Personalized magnetic tentacles for targeted photothermal cancer therapy in peripheral lungs
Communications Engineering 2, 50
A 2.4 mm magnetic catheter combines shape sensing and an optical fiber for peripheral-airway navigation.
Cutting surgical robots down to size
Wyss Institute · 2020
The miniature teleoperated mini-RCM demonstrates tracing and simulated retinal-vein cannulation.
Snake Robot Urban Search After the 2017 Mexico City Earthquake
Carnegie Mellon University · 2018 publication
After the 2017 Mexico City earthquake, a snake robot provided camera views inside gaps inaccessible to conventional cameras.
Ingestible origami robot
MIT / CSAIL · 2016 research report
A robot unfolds from a capsule and uses magnetic guidance to remove a button battery in a simulated stomach.
Elios 3 demo video
Flyability · Elios 3
Elios 3 combines a protective cage, visual inspection and LiDAR sensing for enclosed facilities.
Tiny robots bring health care closer to precision drug delivery
Stanford Engineering · 2022 research report
Magnetically actuated miniature robots explore movement and precision delivery inside the body.
A Novel Contact-Aided Continuum Robotic System: Design, Modeling, and Validation
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
A slender manipulator uses contact-aided compliant mechanisms to resist twisting and compression buckling.
子母式连续体机器人：设计、建模与验证
机械工程学报 / Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Nested structures with axial sliding explore coordinated changes in geometry and stiffness.
Touching with torque enables human-level robotic dexterity
Science Advances
Torque, angle and pressure feedback support specific dexterous manipulation tasks without vision.
Bistable insect-scale jumpers with tunable energy barriers for multimodal locomotion
Advanced Science
Tunable energy barriers control storage and release to produce multiple jumping modes at insect scale.
工业微创手术：航空发动机原位检修连续体机器人技术及应用
应用基础与工程科学学报
A review of access, mechanism design and in-situ aero-engine tasks.
昆虫尺度多运动模式机器人研究进展与应用
机械工程学报
A review of multimodal locomotion in insect-scale robots.
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BEFORE YOU READ
Access, motion and manipulation.
Opening and path
How large is the opening? How does the path bend? What surfaces or media are inside? Define the task before choosing mechanisms, sensing and retrieval.
Surfaces and test conditions
Models, actual components and field deployments answer different questions. Look for loads, surfaces, control methods, repetitions and unsuccessful conditions.
Papers and reproducibility
A title, authors, year and original link make a useful starting point. For code, data or methods, explain where to find them and how they may be used.