“Popcorn kernels are a natural, edible, and inexpensive material that has the potential to rapidly expand with high force upon application of heat.”
“Although this transition is irreversible, it carries potential for several robotic applications.”
“As kernels can change from regular to (larger) irregular shapes, we examine the change in inter-granular friction and propose their use as granular fluids in jamming actuators, without the need for a vacuum pump. Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept, we also demonstrate the use of popcorn-driven actuation in soft, compliant, and rigidlink grippers”.
Popcorn-Driven Robotic Actuators
Popcorn is a cheap, biodegradable way to actuate a robot (once)
JiffyBot?
