Sci/Tech iRobot Unveils Morphing Blob Robot (w/ Video)

[The Helper]

[YOUTUBE]SbqHERKdlK8[/YOUTUBE]

This is by far one of the coolest and weirdest robot prototypes we at IEEE Spectrum have ever seen.

Meet iRobot's soft, shape-shifting robot blob. It rolls around and changes shape, and it will be able to squeeze through tiny cracks in a wall when the project is finished.

(Skip the first 1:50 minutes of the video above to see the blob in action.)

Researchers from iRobot and the University of Chicago discussed their palm-sized soft robot, known as a chemical robot, or chembot, at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems yesterday. It's "the first demonstration of a completely soft, mobile robot using jamming as an enabling technology," they write in a paper presented at the conference.

More here.

 

[DBZ-123]

Cool!

 

[Siretu]

Me like!

 

[Whitesock]

Just think about it, this could be a precursor to artificial muscle in the future. :thup:

 

[Avaleirra]

Thats so cool! But how could we use it in daily life?

 

[ElderKingpin]

wow. im so going to use that when i grow up. a blob, that isnt a blob, its just a thing with sides.

 

[Aqua Dragon]

@Avaleira
Read Whitesock's comment.

This is pretty neat, and I couldn't resist yelling "It's alive!" when it began rolling

 

[Varine]

Thats so cool! But how could we use it in daily life?

Who cares?

 

[FireCat]

Just think about it, this could be a precursor to artificial muscle in the future. :thup:

Yeah, Indeed!

 

[Samael88]

Just think about it, this could be a precursor to artificial muscle in the future. :thup:

I fail to see how that could be possible I can get how it could be used as inflatable muscles tho.
To replace real muscles it would have to be made from a really REALLY strong material to withstand the pressure of being used. It would need to be refined until they can put those compartments basically in thin lines and then put those lines next to each other.
Say if I should make a muscle for my upper arm, I would need to attach a number of those lines from the elbow to the shoulder.
And to be honest I don't really see how that would be possible to achieve in any other way. Please explain further if you thought that far and please keep in mind that it is basically a intelligent football at this stage

Edit: Oh, and I am not meaning to be a pessimist or anything with this post, I am just curious
And I have to add this as well: This will be the death of football players Now the ball can play alone

 

[Varine]

I fail to see how that could be possible I can get how it could be used as inflatable muscles tho.

It's an early concept of what it could become. Using a stronger fiber it would be possible, all your muscles actually do is contract. They don't expand on their own, it's only because another muscle is contracting. This would be able to deal with that pneumatically it seems, using technology like in fake legs to make them bend.

And you wouldn't need to attach a bunch of those lines, in theory you could probably have the entire system integrated inside the artificial muscle since it won't be making a vast number of movements.

 

[Samael88]

It's an early concept of what it could become. Using a stronger fiber it would be possible, all your muscles actually do is contract. They don't expand on their own, it's only because another muscle is contracting. This would be able to deal with that pneumatically it seems, using technology like in fake legs to make them bend.

And you wouldn't need to attach a bunch of those lines, in theory you could probably have the entire system integrated inside the artificial muscle since it won't be making a vast number of movements.

I thought that the lines could be a good and easy way to balance the size off the muscles and the strength of the them And I was just asking out of curiosity btw I actually don't see this thing working for that purpose in any way

 

[Varine]

I thought that the lines could be a good and easy way to balance the size off the muscles and the strength of the them And I was just asking out of curiosity btw I actually don't see this thing working for that purpose in any way

Well you have to remember that this is the very first design of anything. Look at anything else; the first design of a gun was a single shot tube thing with a fuse and you were lucky if it went fifty feet. The first computer was a giant ass barn thing and it could barely calculate. It's going to advance and could be a basis for artificial muscles given the way it can expand and contract so easily.