Soft, Flexible Robot Concept Demonstrated

[Terry Olaes]

Researchers from the University of Chicago and iRobot, the creators of the Roomba, showed off a chemical robot that is a “completely soft, mobile robot using jamming as an enabling technology.” Click on through to see a video of the chembot in action.

What's this jamming they speak of? It's how the robot moves, using its "jamming skin" made up of cell compartments that can be filled or emptied, coupled with a central actuator that can inflate the 'bot's beach-ball-like body. …If fully realized, it's believed that such a robot would serve as a valuable tool in traversing tricky terrain, such as a crack in the wall.

 

[madcap magician]

That is juusst a little freaky.

 

[BullsEyeBob]

A little? That's MAJOR freaky!!

 

[stryder2720]

Now that is awesome!

 

[delusional]

For a second there, I thought it was morphing into a face!!

 

[TheGamerZ]

Anybody think of those pods from existenZ when they watched this?

 

[ktk]

ZOMG T-2000 prototype !!!!1111

 

[gwarren007]

Pretty cool!!

 

[Shadowssong]

That is awesome no doubt

 

[lilfiend]

i want it!

 

[michael.pa2]

The "beach ball" robot reminds me of the sentry balloons in The Prisoner.

 

[AKDUDE]

Gentleman, the day is coming ... soon you will be able to order up your lifelike female robot.

That is all.

 

[tubular]

That is pretty damn cool right there

 

[spydermonkey]

Was anybody else thinking strech armstrong when then showed how the skin worked?

 

[EvilWays]

Gentleman, the day is coming ... soon you will be able to order up your lifelike female robot.

That is all.

So...RealDoll 2.0?

 

[AceGoober]

Don't squeeze Charmin! She'll drop a few nuts.

 

[siralexu]

cool stuf could be used in synthetic muscles

 

[phide]

These soft robots are going to be so much better than their hard counterparts. In what way, I couldn't say.

 

[gibber]

Gentleman, the day is coming ... soon you will be able to order up your lifelike female robot.

That is all.

And make your own "jam" after some jamming of the jamming robot. "She" would have to have a "jamming orifice" for you to jam your jamming rod in and jam after she jammed you with the jamming pleasure activator cells.

 

[ChairmanMiau]

Now that is brilliant.

 

[Guitarrasdeamor]

Gentleman, the day is coming ... soon you will be able to order up your lifelike female robot.

That is all.

 

[jubbie]

Reminds me of Gish (the game) cept that was a ball of tar. A little freaky, very weird. Feels like there was something that might pop out of the 'pod' like an egg in one of those alien movies.

 

[colinstu]

keep this away from dildo makers?