Engineers made a bipedal walker using bimetallic plates

Japanese engineers from the University of Tokyo have figured out how to adapt bimetallic plates for the manufacture of the Thermobot walking construction. It can “walk” on a heated surface due to the heating and cooling of the plates. Scientists presented their work at the international conference on intelligent systems and robotics IROS 2015 in Hamburg (Germany).

Bimetallic plates have long been used in engineering as various kinds of fuses and cyclic devices. Plates of metals with very different coefficients of thermal expansion are combined together. When heated, one metal expands more than the other, causing the plate to be bent. Subsequent cooling returns to its original shape.

The Japanese also applied this approach to making a walker. The gait of the resulting design is devoid of elegance and sends the viewer to a miniature of the comic group "Monty Python", "The Ministry of Foolish Gaits." But then, the advantage of the walker is the simplicity of its design. These are just two “legs” on one common axis.
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The special weight distribution of the legs leads to the fact that after rolling on its side, the opposite leg deviates forward. Thus, Thermobot takes steps, lifting one foot after the other, like a man trying to run through burning coals.



The efficiency of the Thermobot is maintained only under certain conditions - in order for the bimetallic plates to cool effectively, it is necessary that the walking surface is much warmer than the environment. Ideally, the temperature difference should be at least 50 degrees. In the experiment recorded on video, Thermobot paces over a surface heated to 170 degrees Celsius at an ambient temperature of 26 degrees.

While it is difficult to imagine the practical application of such technology. If the Thermobot is modified to function successfully with a smaller temperature difference, a funny toy that does not require a power source can come out of it. It is possible that the inquisitive mind of engineers will come up with a suitable application for such a movement, working on the difference in temperature.