There’s something new happening every day in the field of physics that never fails to amaze us. While the basic laws of physics remain the same, the usual rules of synergy continue to change. Recently, a team of researchers designed an “odd wheel” robot that looks simple but is an incredibly amazing thing. Instead of sliding down on an inclined path, this wheel actually rolls uphill. We have always seen things carrying mass fall under the influence of gravity, but this wheel goes upward.
However, this newly designed wheel fulfills all the parameters of the laws of physics. Its segments are linked in such a way that makes its oscillations synchronized with each other and gives it a push against the ground. This allows it to go uphill instead of slipping down an inclined path.
This wheel is composed in such a way that individual motors are linked together with each other, forming a circular shape. Each component of the module is connected with plastic arms and rubber bands, thus complying with a ring-like structure. These modules are positioned in such a way that would allow the wheel to set up an opposite torque in the entire system. However, this unalignment wouldn’t actually permit the wheel to even move. But the continuous push and pull of the individual motors gives rise to the circular oscillations that become a source for the wheel to move up.
These individual oscillations affect the expansion parameters of the wheel, which makes it able to finally move up against all the odds. And we cannot say that it’s a strange thing to happen. There are a lot of things that work against the effect of gravity. For instance, balloons move up by pushing the air beneath them. Considering all these things, we still cannot say that this kind of technology has any effect on the conventional wheels that are being used nowadays.
Denis Bartolo, a physicist at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, said, “If you tried to make a plane using beating wings, you would still be walking or swimming from Normandy to New York.”
