The iRobot cleaning robot company has previewed one of it’s newest creation of a blob type ball substance. The robot/blob should be able to squeeze through any nook and cranny using a jamming system. This blob really gives a new meaning to reinventing the wheel.
Unveiled at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) yesterday, this palm-sized troublemaker is being billed as “the first demonstration of a completely soft, mobile robot using jamming as an enabling technology.” The “jamming” in question is something called “jamming skin enabled locomotion,” which traps air and a collection of loosely packed particles in a package made of silicon rubber. When air is removed from the pocket, the silicon restricts and seems to solidify. The robot consists of several of these pockets, which can be inflated or deflated separately, giving the device the ability to perform simple actions.
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