Imagine an elephant that can not only carefully hand you a flower, but also enthusiastically knock down bowling pins. No, this is not a new circus act, but a fresh development from Switzerland’s EPFL.
Engineers were inspired by the elephant trunk, which contains around 90,000 muscle bundles. So they decided: why not give a robot the same capabilities? That is how this unusual “robot elephant” came to be, with a flexible trunk and stable “legs.” Unlike classic robots, which are often either too rigid or, on the contrary, soft and “amorphous,” this one turned out to be both strong and graceful at the same time.
The secret lies in a programmable cellular structure. In essence, it is a 3D-printed construction set made of lightweight foam, from which anything can be assembled, while each cell can be adjusted to the desired level of stiffness. The result is more than a million possible configurations. And behind it is serious research, published in the journal Science Advances and already drawing the attention of the scientific community.
And if you think about it, in the future walks on elephants could be safely replaced by robots. As for real elephants, let them finally enjoy life — without tourists on their backs and tiny enclosures.
