Open up your mind and try to imagine a robot so remarkably awesome that it can withstand not only being beat down with a hammer, but also walking through acid, fire and ice like a friggen champ! Imagine no more, because according to Discovery News , this amazing robot actually exists. Yes, indeed! Move over Terminator, because you just met your match, bro!
This “freaky boneless robot” first appeared on the scene three years ago at Harvard University, though in much smaller form. iEEE Spectrum reveals that back then, it used external air compressors to walk. What made it so astonishingly cool is that the robot was almost indestructible . You could have beat it with a hammer a 100 times over, and it would have still kept “walking, crawling and slithering” toward you in a bid to kill you (bwahahah) .
Fast forward to today. The upgraded and significantly larger robot is now made out of silicone rubber, which according to Discovery News means “it can continue to function in subzero temperatures (tested down to -9 degrees Celsius), 40 km/h winds, puddles of up to 5 centimeters of water and 3,000 Kelvin methane flames for up to 50 seconds.” It’s even resistant to acid attacks!
Plus, the new version of this amazing robot functions autonomously without any tethered assistance. It also carries enough juice to keep on crawling/walking at a rate of up to about 60 feet per hour for a whopping two hours straight. This unfortunately limits its traveling distance to about 120 feet (or.022 miles), though it’s still a remarkable feat nonetheless.
So how does the robot work? The first thing to understand is that it lacks limbs, much like sea animals such as squid and starfish. Instead it contains elastomer compartments that are inflated and deflated “to provide temporary structure and rigidity.” It also houses $1,111 worth of miniature air compressors, batteries, valves and controllers, all of which themselves are definitely not indestructible (hint for anybody who gets attacked by one of these amazing robots ).
To get a better idea of how the robot walks, check the diagram below, courtesy iEEE Spectrum :
Now, to see it withstand acid, fire and ice like a champ, check out the amazing video below:
Ladies and gentlemen, Skynet has officially arrived. The good news is that its minions currently walk at a pace of only 60 feet per hour! The bad news is that humans themselves are working tirelessly to increase both their walking speed and their indestructibility. Go figure, right!?
Image via [Discovery News]
