“iRobot”, to people in western countries, is a household name. From daily chores to highly dangerous missions and combats, iRobots have their own way. Well, by now you must have figured out that it’s not the movie we are talking about. iRobot is a popular robotics company that designs and develops robots that lessen the efforts that human beings need to put in order to make their lives easier and safer. Robots that are capable of cleaning and ones that can withstand ferocious missions and combats are being developed by the company.
The latest entry to the list of rattling inventions at iRobot is the ‘chembot’. A year after procuring the multimillion dollar contract from the U.S. Army Research Office and The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, iRobot has finally come up with the first working palm-sized ‘chembot’, which was the show stopper at the IROS – 2009 conference at St Louis.
Coming to the attributes of this eye popping invention, it looks like a slimy, greasy lump of jelly or dough, yet it is decidedly potential enough to go on a dangerous mission. It can sweep across any piece of land as long it is not completely rocky terrain. It can squeeze itself into small openings, even through a tiny gap below a closed door; this aspect can be highly useful at instances of search and rescue missions. It achieves this feat by a process called jamming skin enabled locomotion (JSEL), in which it scoots between a semi liquid and semi solid state by subtle changes in its volume. Its internal structure comprises series of compartments filled with air and loosely packed particles that are enclosed in a flexible silicone skin. It can change its size and shape in a very impressive time; it can roll and also carry payloads. Changes occur due to inflation and deflation of the structure. During deflation, particles compress and shift slightly to fill up the emptiness that is being created.
It seems that all those sci-fi movies are slowly going to become a reality!!! There is nothing to wonder if scientists come up with robots similar to those we have seen in ‘Transformers’.
