Otherlab, a private Research and Development company from San Francisco, toys with inflatable robotics. So meet its latest blow-up beast: the 15 foot walking "Ant-Roach".

Working in collaboration with Meka Robotics and Stanford University (with some funding from DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program), Otherlab's so-called pneubotics are made from lightweight inflatable fabric, and the joints powered by hydraulics.

The Ant-Roach, it must be said, started its conceptual life as an elephant. Over the course of production it ended up looking more like a mutated cross between an anteater and a cockroach -- hence the name.

The blue beast's muscles are textile-based actuators which contract when inflated. Several central manifolds under the Ant-Roach's belly dispense compressed air, when a laptop (sending a wireless signal to a microcontroller on the robot) sends a signal.

Making a blow-up robot has plenty of advantages. It's much cheaper to create a body that's made mostly of air, and the Ant-Roach can swim in water. It's also got a massive strength-to-weight ratio, too. It's about 30kg, but can support anywhere up to 450kg. On the downside, a sharp needle could probably bring the bot down.

The team at Otherlab has also made a inflatable robotic arm and hand. Not only is the blow-up limb flexible (with actuator muscles at the shoulder, elbow, wrist and in each of the four fingers), but the rubbery grip gives it a dainty touch, letting it pick up fragile objects without crushing them.


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