Meet Octobot, an adorable soft-bodied robot with eight arms. The bot has no electrical cords, wires, or batteries. Its power comes from a chemical reaction inside its gummy body.
Octobot contains liquid hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a metal called platinum (Pt). When the hydrogen peroxide breaks down, it releases oxygen (O) gas. The platinum acts as a catalyst to speed up this reaction. The oxygen gas fills the robot’s arms, causing them to move, says Michael Wehner, a materials scientist at Harvard University in Massachusetts and one of Octobot’s creators.
Oxygen inflates four of the robot’s limbs at a time, lifting and lowering them. The wriggling motion lasts until Octobot runs out of fuel—about four to eight minutes.