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CSU creating robots of the future

Students and professors at Colorado State University are developing robots of the future that can adapt to their surroundings.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — In the future, search and rescue efforts could be made safer and faster by robots, drones could recharge without ever touching the ground, and robots themselves could be able to shape-shift to adapt to their surroundings. 

Those types of robots are being developed at Colorado State University by students like Brandon Tighe. 

"As long as I can remember, I've been fascinated with technology," Tighe said. 

Tighe built a four-legged robot that can crawl on all of its limbs, or use a few of them to grip something while the other legs pull it forward. 

"The more things it can do, the more useful it’ll be,” he said. 

The idea is to eventually get this robot to the point where it can maneuver any terrain, including water. Animals can do it, Tighe reasons, so why can't robots?

“We’re just kind of taking from a lot of the ideas nature already developed," he said. “Just trying to create technology that mimics nature.”

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Jianguo Zhao said these robots could one day help save lives. 

“We can use them for disaster relief, search and rescue or environmental monitoring," Zhao said. 

In the case of drones, he said many of the smaller ones can't stay in the air for longer than 30 minutes. Zhao and his students are working on drones that could perch on tree branches to charge up without needing to touch down.

These types of robots aren't widely used yet, but Dr. Zhao says that could change soon. 

“I think with the advancement of materials, robotics all this artificial intelligence probably in the next decade," he said. 

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