MIT Rapid Development System Produces Robot Starfish in Hours

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a new system aimed at creating a robotic starfish for rapid research on underwater marine life. Researchers suggest that when attempting to study marine life, using a device that does not intimidate the studied animals by appearing unnatural can be helpful. The newly manufactured robot, Starfish, is manufactured using a new rapid development system that can produce robots within hours rather than weeks.

Researchers suggest that designing underwater robots is often more challenging than designing robots designed for use on land due to the influence of variables such as water flow, salinity, and buoyancy. Due to the challenges faced in designing robots for underwater use, it is often necessary to go through countless prototypes and incorporate features that were lacking in previous generations. This process is expensive and may take several weeks or even longer to achieve the finished product.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hope to develop a soft swimming robot called Starfish, so they have created a machine learning based simulation system to accelerate the development process. According to the requirements of the researchers, the system generated a computer model that explains how to construct a robot and how it will swim.

Then, researchers can create a prototype based on the model. After the robot is completed, it is tested in the water tank and real-world performance data is fed back to the computer model to further optimize it. Using this repeated trial and error approach, the team only made a few prototypes and produced a functional product within a few hours.

The current version of the robot Starfish uses a sturdy silicone body, with a single low-power motor connected to the tendons of the robot's front legs. These tendons can be compressed and released, allowing robots to swim quietly and efficiently in water.

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