A gentle robot plays the piano thanks to an “air” memory

Soft robots still tend to rely on hard electronics to function, but a new invention could reduce that need for inflexible chips. Researchers at UC Riverside developed a pneumatic computer memory that they used to help a soft robot play the piano.

Instead of conventional transistors and electrical circuits, “compressed air” memory relies on microfluidic valves that control the flow of air. Atmospheric pressure in a given valve represents a binary “0”, while a vacuum indicates a “1”. Researchers’ memory has a set of these valves complex enough to function as an 8-bit RAM chip – not really powerful, but good enough for a pair of flexible robot hands to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to. a slow pace but steady pace.

The lack of positive pressure makes this particularly safe – there is no risk of the memory exploding halfway through use.

The technology is far from ready for everyday use. Along with the necessary improvements in complexity and speed, a robot would need software versions of processors and other components to completely eliminate the need for rigid electronics. The objective is however clear. Pneumatic memory could at least reduce the need for chips in soft robots and portends a completely flexible robotics future that shouldn’t hurt you in a crash.