Superfluous but ingenious: a robot that ties your shoelaces
Do you always have so little time in the morning to tie your laces ? No? We neither. We do not have enough time to spread bread, or to find matching socks. But lashing laces has caught someone with a lanyard diploma within seconds.
Robot strict laces
For those for whom lacing laces is too demanding, no worries. Students in California have built a robot that can do this. The students were given the assignment to develop this robot, because it is a challenge to perform a complex task such as shoelaces with only two motors. They only had a budget of 600 dollars.
The two motors drive four gearboxes, two on each side of the shoe. One of the motors drives a horizontal axis that operates the machine. The other motor provides the vertical movement. In addition to horizontal and vertical movement, the machine can also make rotating movements, which is indispensable for snare laces. In four minutes the machine strictly laces the shoe laces.
Challenge
In addition to creating the robot itself, the students faced another major challenge. They had to think of something that does not exist yet. And that is very difficult in the robot world.
At present they are not going to develop the machine further, due to lack of investment. Still, the students are hopeful that in the future they will become big with this robot that laces strictly.