iRobot has been working on DARPA's ChemBot project, and they've come up with a robot based on jamming skin-enabled locomotion (JSEL). The basic idea is to use a granular material that can change state from a solid to a liquid on command.
Encapsulated by a flexible skin broken up into zones of this jammable slurry, the center of the robot contains an actuator that can change its volume. Unjamming the material in specific zones, combined with changes in the volume of the actuator, results in controlled movement.
Anyway, observe the blob in motion in the following video.
In the vein of soft-robots as entertainment, read about the Funktionide Blob. And I'll close with the classic B-movie reference to blobs that ooze through theater vents and into your lives.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/15/2009)
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'