STEAM may be the answer to a problem that has always dogged robotics: how to feed a robot enough energy to do useful work.
A team at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee has tackled the problem by using hydrogen peroxide to generate steam. This powers novel robot motors that pack 50 times the punch of the best electric motors of similar size and weight.
A major barrier holding back humanoid robots is the lack of decent motors. They also need a power supply that doesn’t take all the robot’s available energy just to lug it around, says Michael Goldfarb at the…
