The palm-sized amorphous Chembot is the latest disarmingly cute military robot from iRobot. This little ball of cutting-edge technology—funded with $3.3 million from DARPA—debuted this week, and man, this is one bizarre robot.
The bot, which was shown off at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems this week, has a silicone skin, and moves by selectively inflating and deflating parts of its spherical body. But the locomotion system entails more than simple puffing and rolling: The video [see below] explains the “particle jamming” system of locomotion, “a mechanism by which material can transition from a liquid-like to a solid-like state.”
(According to IEEE, the video below is a little dated, but it’s still a good primer on “jamming.” The cool stuff starts at around 1:50.)
A shoebox sized, GPS-guided robot is under development for the U.S. military. Oh, and the robot has mad ups too: It can leap a 25-foot wall without breaking a sweat.
Robotics company Boston Dynamics, the same group that brought you PETMAN and BigDog, built the robot—known as the Precision Urban Hopper—for the purposes of scouting enemy territory.
Most of the time, the robot…uses its four wheels to get around. But the Precision Urban Hopper can use a piston-actuated “leg” to launch it over obstacles such as walls or fences. The robot could boost the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban warfare, say researchers.
The work was funded by the US military’s research branch, and the robot is expected to enlist sometime in late 2010.
Here’s a video of the little bugger posterizing a helpless fence:
Remember the robot that was reported to feed on human corpses? Turns out the bot actually wouldn’t be programmed to eat flesh at all. Instead, it would stick to leaves, grass and other non-animal-based organic matter.
The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot – known as Eatr for short – does indeed fuel its “biomass engine” by digesting organic material, but it was not intended to munch its way through battlefields of fallen soldiers, Harry Schoell, the chief executive of Cyclone Power Technologies, said.
“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” Mr Schoell said.
“We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter. The commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous.”
Looks like the panic was premature, and based on some misconstrued information. Still, we have to ask: If the robot can be programmed to eat certain things, couldn’t it still potentially be hijacked and re-programmed to consume corpses?
About a year ago, we calmly speculated about the implications that a slug-eating robot might have for us delicious humans.
Recently, there have been reports of the development of a steam-powered robot that can fuel itself by consuming any organic material in its path, from leaves to twigs to (gulp) humans. Now might be a good time to panic, at least if you value your body with its flesh intact.
According to the developers of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, appropriately abbreviated EATR, the bot could live independently for years on old furniture, dead animals and, of course, human corpses, which provide the greatest fuel of all. Fox News reports:
EATR… which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity….
Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a gunship.
In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through “foraging,” despite the obvious military purpose.
Researchers hoping to literally get inside the heads of soldiers will have their chance: 20 retired and active members of the U.S. military have pledged to donate their brains for research on the physical effects of war on the brain.
The program will be looking for evidence of brain damage caused by explosions and other wartime trauma, and the researchers involved have already examined the brains of athletes for similar problems. According to the New York Times:
Just as researchers at the Boston University center and elsewhere have linked some athletes’ later-life emotional problems to their on-field brain trauma, the research on military personnel will try to determine whether some soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder—a psychological diagnosis—actually retain physical brain damage caused by battlefield blasts. Some signs of P.T.S.D., particularly depression, erratic behavior and the inability to concentrate, appear similar to those experienced by concussed athletes.
Such a link could have effects beyond medicine. Disability benefits for veterans can vary depending on whether an injury is considered psychological or physical. And veterans with P.T.S.D. alone do not receive the Purple Heart, the medal given to soldiers wounded or killed in enemy action, because it is not a physical wound.
New Scientist is reporting that a paper by the U.S. National Academies of Science has thrown out the possibility of using genetic testing and analysis to match soldiers with specific duties/specialties, and monitor their brains for signs of stress or weakness. For instance:
If a soldier is struggling, a digital “buddy” might step in and warn them about nearby threats, or advise comrades to zap them with an electromagnet to increase their alertness. If the whole unit is falling apart, biosensors could warn central commanders to send in a replacement team….
Sponsored by the U.S. army and written by a panel of 14 prominent neuroscientists, the report focuses on those areas with “high-payoff potential” – where the science is sufficiently reliable to turn into useful technologies….
Within five years, biomarkers might be used to assess how well a soldier’s brain is functioning, and within 10 years, it should be possible to predict how individuals are likely to respond to environmental stresses like extreme heat and cold, or endurance exercises.
There’s also the matter of matching people to combat specialties based on a combo of psych and genetics tests:
Here it is, a 15-gram helicopter that fits in your hand and looks like something out of a James Bond sequence. Except it’s not a movie prop—it’s the PD-100 Black Hornet.
With video cameras for eyes and fully-functional 4-inch rotor blades, the helicopter can lift off the ground in a matter of seconds and fly at 20 miles per hour. A built-in GPS system allows it to carefully navigate outdoor terrain without getting lost. Tests have shown that it can even handle windy conditions.
If the Norwegian company Prox Dynamics successfully manufactures the Hornet as planned, soldiers might soon begin to use them on the battlefield. The best part? The tiny aircraft is so small it can fit in their pockets.
The newest battle being fought by U.S. military forces is against insects. Fluorescent rodent feces and a new, improved flytrap were among the pest-control innovations presented at this week’s American Mosquito Control Association convention. In attendance were researchers from the Pentagon’s Deployed Warfighter Protection Research Program, whose goal is “to take no prisoners among disease-carrying flies, mosquitoes and other bugs that threaten Americans in uniform abroad.”
The program spends an annual $5 million developing methods to fight disease-carrying insects that threaten troops. And what’s good for the troops, officials say, is ultimately good for the public: Existing malaria- and dengue-fighting technologies have been the result of military-driven research. Citizens at large have the military to thank for DEET, a common ingredient in insect repellents, as well as several chemical-treated fabrics that keep ticks and mosquitoes at bay.
Kevlar is nice and all, but the next bullet-proof vest might be made of sticky goo. Colorado researchers are using specialized gels to fix knee injuries (and pretty much the rest of the human body). But a chemical engineering company called d3O lab has created the mightiest gel of all—one so strong that when an external force, such as a fist or the ground, hits it, the gel turns into a shock-absorbing material that hardens and soaks up the entire impact.
While the company has been testing the gel in sports equipment for athletes, the Ministry of Defense thinks the new goo may be capable of stopping bullets, so they’ve forked over $150,000 for testing.
The secret to how the gel works rests in chemistry (not magic), as inventor Richard Palmer explained to the Telegraph: “When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid.” So in this case, when a bullet hits the gel’s molecules, they bond together to form an “impenetrable” wall against bullets or shrapnel. But the solid state is only temporary—after the molecules absorb the shock and the impact stops, the gel becomes a gel again.
• Social networking can lead to increased isolation, health problems, and harmful immune responses. So does that mean we shouldn’t post this link to Facebook?
DiscoBlog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's edited by Eliza Strickland, and written by Brett Israel and Andrew Moseman.
A shoebox sized, GPS-guided robot is under development for the U.S. military. Oh, and the robot has mad ups too: It can leap a 25-foot wall without breaking a sweat.
Remember the robot that was reported to 
Researchers hoping to literally get inside the heads of soldiers will have their chance: 20 retired and active members of the U.S. military have pledged to donate their brains for research on the physical effects of war on the brain.
Here it is, a 
The newest battle being fought by 
Kevlar is 
