RSS Feeds
Robots
Roomba Maker to Develop DARPA's ChemBot Morphing Robots
Posted by Sean Fallon at 6:35 AM on June 18, 2008
Last year DARPA began the search for a company that could develop robots capable of squeezing through small openings and returning to their original size, shape, and functionality on the other side. Like most of DARPA's projects, the idea was way-out there. However, it appears that iRobot (the guys behind practical home robots like the Roomba vacuum and the Looj Gutter cleaner) have answered the call.
While it may seem weird that iRobot would work on such an ambitious project, it is important to point out that this is not the first time the company has been involved with a military device, and the type of robots they design make them as good a candidate as any. Whether they can actually pull it off or not remains to be seen, but they will have a brain trust at Harvard and MIT backing them up--so you never know. [Danger Room]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
OtioseScandal
Posted 8:08 AM 18/6/08
@Log1c: You clearly missed Maria von Trapp's entrance in the Sound of Music, where she melts into a puddle, slips under the door and kills Sarah Conner.
OtioseScandal
Git Em SteveDave can't think of a clever way to mention Lindsay
Posted 8:07 AM 18/6/08
@Log1c: @The Magnificen7:
+ Watch video
Git Em SteveDave can't think of a clever way to mention Lindsay
gizmodohomepage
Posted 7:44 AM 18/6/08
Replicators are the key here team, replicators. I doubt that SG-1 will give one up though.
gizmodohomepage
cafenitro
Posted 7:40 AM 18/6/08
What they really need is a gel that is attracted to electricity. You'd have a central processor with an array of wires that pulse electricity in certain patterns and cause the gell to contract or expand, acting like muscle.
cafenitro
neverkilled
Posted 7:38 AM 18/6/08
Maybe DARPA could read prey. That should give them another idea on how to kill everyone.
neverkilled
cafenitro
Posted 7:36 AM 18/6/08
What they really need is a gel that contracts around an electricity-emitting array of wires. By applying various pulses of electricity the contracting gel would actually propel the bot like muscle.
cafenitro
davezatz
Posted 7:29 AM 18/6/08
And the Abyss! ;)
davezatz
davezatz
Posted 7:29 AM 18/6/08
Guess I wasn't the only one who saw Terminator 2!
davezatz
GeekyNerdGuy
Posted 7:26 AM 18/6/08
I think the solution lies in printed fabric circuits. I'm working an a robot with no wires at all, just a fabric skin that has the circuits printed into it. As long as the contact points stay in the right place, it could stretch and shapeshift the way that BMW does.
GeekyNerdGuy
cafenitro
Posted 7:25 AM 18/6/08
I'll bet the finished bot will look something like a flexable printer ribbon and wriggle under doors like a tapeworm exiting your hoo-ha.
cafenitro
NilSn
Posted 7:24 AM 18/6/08
Photoshoped i can tell by the pixel ._.
NilSn
electrikecho
Posted 7:08 AM 18/6/08
So... will the initial design be based on a tampon?
electrikecho
Lupison
Posted 7:07 AM 18/6/08
"This DARPA initiative wouldn't happen to take place on an island, would it?"
Yeah, I now always think of Lost everytime I hear about DARPA, it's annoying as hell.
Lupison
adamator
Posted 7:07 AM 18/6/08
@gizmodohomepage: It's like the Voltron effect: Take separate elements that together have specific capabilities/firepower, and put them together... Voila--You get a giant energy sword!
adamator
frigg
Posted 7:06 AM 18/6/08
The first nation to develop a robot capable of sneaking into a room, cleaning the carpet, and sneaking out again WILL RULE THE WORLD!!!
frigg
JackHoliday
Posted 7:05 AM 18/6/08
Ahh crap. Liquid metal.
JackHoliday
Mooby
Posted 7:00 AM 18/6/08
Sneak in. Clean up some Taliban dirt. Sneak back out.
Military Roomba FTW!
Mooby
The Magnificen7
Posted 6:55 AM 18/6/08
@Log1c: I am still haunted by those Raptors. Those goddamn Raptors...
The Magnificen7
gizmodohomepage
Posted 6:54 AM 18/6/08
If you can go through the small openings in the first place, what's the point to morph into something bigger?
gizmodohomepage
levingst
Posted 6:51 AM 18/6/08
This DARPA initiative wouldn't happen to take place on an island, would it?
levingst
Log1c
Posted 6:50 AM 18/6/08
@OtioseScandal: You clearly missed the Velociraptor scene in Jurassic Park.
Log1c
Chromeo
Posted 6:50 AM 18/6/08
@tehdahl:
Why go through doors when you can bend space/time and go directly to the kill site?
Come DARPA.
Chromeo
OtioseScandal
Posted 6:44 AM 18/6/08
They were going to make a robot that can turn door knobs, but then they realized that that isn't as grand an entrance.
OtioseScandal
adamator
Posted 6:43 AM 18/6/08
Wouldn't it be easier to just teleport?
adamator
tehdahl
Posted 6:42 AM 18/6/08
Why go under doors when you can go through them...
Come on DARPA.
tehdahl
Wakeley
Posted 9:03 AM 18/6/08
Am i the only one thinking the Terminator here?
T3, where she goes throught the grate door and all that stuff?
Wakeley
makeseven
Posted 8:47 AM 18/6/08
@ neverkilled
agreed! wouldnt millions of small independent robots working together fuction better for getting into tight places?
gosh i love Crichton books.
makeseven
jrghoull
Posted 8:21 AM 18/6/08
they need to do a parody of the terminator movie in which Arnold's part is played by a romba
oh, and the romba would be able to more, rebuild/duplicate itself, teleport, and make itself into just about anything of any size
and it would be known as the romba 4.0
jrghoull
neverkilled
Posted 10:41 AM 18/6/08
A tv show called Human Giant did a skit about roombas taking over.
neverkilled
neverkilled
Posted 10:38 AM 18/6/08
@makeseven
yah its better to have a lot of good men than only one.
neverkilled
tehdahl
Posted 10:00 AM 18/6/08
@Wakeley:
and then sings some crap about nuns climbing mountains?
yeah...
saw that one too.
tehdahl
ASCurtis
Posted 1:23 PM 18/6/08
is anybody else reminded by that picture of that old tv show "the secret world of alex mack"?
ASCurtis
DaveExile
Posted 2:36 PM 18/6/08
John Connor: Why doesn't it become a bomb or something to get me?
The Terminator: It cant form complex machines, guns and explosives have chemicals, moving parts, it doesn't work that way, but it can form solid metal shapes.
John Connor: Like what?
The Terminator: Knives and stabbing weapons.
DaveExile
Red Right Hand
Posted 4:08 PM 18/6/08
I for one welcom....*PEW PEW PEW
/silence
Red Right Hand
gadgetplay
Posted 5:12 PM 18/6/08
@OtioseScandal: "where she melts into a puddle, slips under the door and kills Sarah Conner."
I thought that was "Mary Poppins."
@tehdahl: "and then sings some crap about nuns climbing mountains?"
No, then she sang "Supercalifragilisticexpialidosis."
gadgetplay
Barcard
Posted 10:52 PM 18/6/08
I guess a AAA or a watch battery could fit in small places, but it would be cooler if the batteries also morphed and shape-shifted.
Barcard
VideoVampire
Posted 3:35 AM 19/6/08
holy crap is it gonna say "have you seen this boy?" and brawl with Ahhnold?
VideoVampire