Whenever we think about robots, the first images that come to mind are of some (generally large) mechanical machines, typically moving in a very specific, far from life-like manner. And while that clearly applies to most of the robots currently available on the market, there are a few exceptions, one of the most interesting being the ChIMERA robot developed by Dr. Dennis Hong of Virginia Tech's RoMeLa Lab.

As our colleagues over at Hizook inform us, the ChIMERA is a robot with amoeba-like locomotion, also known as whole-skin locomotion (WSL), blob 'bot, or Chembot. In other words, its movement style will be significantly different from that of most other robots out there, being a lot more... fluid.

As far as we've been able to pick up from Dr. Hong's presentation at a recent TEDxNASA event (video is embedded at the end of the article, and you should move to minute 7.27 for the ChIMERA talk), several methods for making this blob-like robot move have been researched, the most important ones, however, being divided into two main categories: physical (or mechanical) and chemical. However, all of them make use of the robot's amazing skin, a plastic compound with some pretty unique features.

In terms of physical motion, Dr. Hong and his team attempted to store potential energy to the elastic skin to make it move, and also used active tension cords to make it move forward and backward. However, by far the most impressive movement-inducing solution was a chemical one, with the robot reaching a pretty impressive speed (0.5 m/s). Unfortunately, details of the involved substances have not been provided yet, probably because they will become the subject of a future research paper.

Another interesting thing worth mentioning about the ChIMERA is the fact that it's capable of squeezing itself through some pretty small holes, down to half of its own diameter, which means that this device might prove to be the perfect stealth infiltration solution. Of course, the military will get it first (that's how things usually go, don't they?), but such an amazing discovery might have quite a lot of interesting civilian applications as well.




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