Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video)

Remember when you didn’t consider climbing trees a chore? Treebot doesn’t — but then, it wasn’t programmed to know boredom. The robot was designed by a team at The Chinese University of Hong Kong for the express purpose of shimmying up trees autonomously, figuring out the best route up a trunk using built-in touch sensors. The ‘bot’s body is designed like an inchworm, expanding and contracting as it works it way up — unlike other climbers we’ve seen . Treebot can carry up to 3.7 pounds as it inches along, opening up the possibility of using the machine to prune hard to reach leaves. It can also shuffle up a variety of different plants, including bamboo stems, as evidenced by the sped-up video after the break. Unwieldy foliage, you’ve been put on notice. Continue reading Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video) Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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