MIT Researchers Develop Robot that Imitates Clam

By Priya Potapragada





Mechanical Engineering developers at MIT have created a robotic clam using studies of the Atlantic razor clam, which uses very little energy to burrow into undersea soil at high speed.



According to the developer, professor Amos Winter and co-developer,professor Annette Hosoi , the RoboClam device can dig itself into the ground to bury anchors or destroy underwater mines. RoboClam is able to dig up to .5 kilometers using only the amount of energy in a AA battery.



“The clam’s trick is to move its shells in such a way as to liquefy the soil around its body, reducing the drag acting upon it,” Winter says. “This means it requires much less force to pull its shell into the soil than it would when moving through static soil.”  



Researchers built a mechanical clamshell to mimic the contractions that a real clam can do. The team also used a compressed air system to power the expansion and contractions of the shell. Winter’s team is now creating an electronic version with the team’s sponsor, Bluefin Robotics, which allows it to be used with underwater vehicles.