MAMA BEAR – which stands for Mechanics of Additively Manufactured Architectures Bayesian Experimental Autonomous Researcher – 3D prints small structures before gently placing them into a hydraulic press and crushes them. It measures the energy absorption of each little creation it makes as it flattens them into little plastic pancakes. MAMA BEAR then stores the numbers in a database, taking note of each design and its flaws or improvements before slightly modifying the design and diligently 3D printing another iteration – for the last three years straight. Over 25,000 times so far. In doing so, MAMA BEAR has set a new efficiency world record of 75% energy absorption, shattering the previous record of 71%. The record-breaking design looks very much like nothing I could have imagined on my own; it’s a sort of twisted flower-looking shape. The robot is the brainchild of Keith Brown, an ENG associate professor of mechanical engineering, and his team in the KABlab. He came up with the idea in 2018 and by 2021, the lab was built and MAMA BEAR was off to find a design that was just right. According to Boston University’s article, the robot crushes its creations “under a pressure equivalent to an adult Arabian horse standing on a quarter.” I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant – though it does paint a fun mental picture – so I took the liberty of converting it to hard data: The median weight of an adult Arabian horse is roughly 880 lb (400 kg). A US quarter is 0.955 inches (24 mm) around. That comes out to around 1,253 psi (86 bar). Squish. You’re welcome.
Full story : Autonomous AI Robot Creates a Shock-Absorbing Shape No Human Ever Could.
