REBROADCAST:...if robots can be squishy? (with Kirstin Petersen)

We’re bringing you an unaired clip from our past interview with Kirstin Petersen, a roboticist and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. In her lab, she builds cooperative teams of robots, called robot swarms, that are inspired by insects like ants, termites, and bees.

Now, when you think of a robot, what do you usually picture in your mind? Probably something with a rigid metal body or arm, right? Or maybe it has some wheels or legs to move around?

Do you ever wonder if robots can be… squishy?

In addition to robot swarms, Kirsten works on ‘soft’ robots. She told us all about why you might want to use a soft robot instead of a traditional rigid one, as well as some of her biological inspiration for building these kinds of robots. We even talked about a popcorn-inspired robot that could have future uses in construction.

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