32-Legged Spherical Robot Moves Like an Amoeba

IEEE Spectrum ^ | October 10, 2018 | Evan Ackerman

[C19fan]

Making a one-legged robot that moves is very hard. Two-legged robots are a little bit more straightforward in some ways, and four-legged robots are statically stable much of the time. You can see where this is going—there’s a general trend toward more legs being more stable and potentially easier to control, especially as terrain complexity increases. So what happens if you take that logic to an extreme? As it turns out, you end up with a spherical robot made of 32 individually actuated telescoping legs, named Mochibot.

[C19fan]

WE ARE DOOMED!

[UCANSEE2]

[ClearCase_guy]

I, for one, welcome our new overlords.

[Delta 21]

Can it handle a point blank blast from a 12 gauge?

Didnt think so.

[Vermont Lt]

Not completely, but it will kick ass with the other 28 feet.

Now they need to find a way to do it while keeping the center steady while it is crawling. That way your “eyes” will remain steady.

One step at a time—pun intended.

[SpaceBar]

It's actually pretty damned interesting. The pseudopods act as both sensory organs as well as providing locomotion. Notice how it constantly queries its environment with that pulsating motion, but expends energy doing so, and is the price paid for not having eyes and ears. In a few iterations and a coat of Flex-Seal it might be able to find thai boys trapped in a flooded cave.

[SpaceBar]

Every thirty minutes or so, a lab worker has to give it a fresh LiPo food vacuole.