New Zealand is betting on autonomous gondolas for local transport.
Meanwhile a US research team has developed a flexible robot to carry objects through the air along tracks.
The robot is a rope made from liquid crystal elastomers, twisted in on itself like a corkscrew and joined at both ends.
If treated with infrared light, the area exposed contracts, pulling the cooler, lower portion into the light and driving the first section onwards. The second section then heats up and contracts and pulls the next up.
And so on. Even works for sharp bends and slopes up to 80°. Load capacity: 12 times its own weight.
Some robots lend a helping hand at home and others double as fish food.Â
