Amoeba bot is first to arrive on the scene, and last to do anything productive

Brought to you by the mechanical engineers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, those same roboteers that brought us the IMPASS "wheg" bot last week, we have the amoeba bot that roughly models its form of movement after that of everyone's favorite single cell organism. The robot is covered in a flexible skin, shaped like a hollow sausage, and crawls along by progressively turning itself inside out, either through contracting and expanding the skin, or through the movement of internal ring-shaped devices. The upshot of all this is that the amoeba bot can fit through an opening half of its diameter, perfect for the navigating the rubble of the ubiquitous rescue mission. The question we're asking is, what on earth is this thing going to do once it arrives on the scene?

[icruise @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Paul Miller -- it's = it is

[RaXha @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Don't really look that usefull to me :)..

[n8 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Not useful? It's much more useful for exploration of tight spaces, in situations like rescue missions or inspection of various sites because it adapts to the width of the space, and because it doesn't roll or walk it would have much better traction. Fitted with a small CO2 sensor and a beacon, at the very least it could find survivors and signal for digging crews. Of course it's a different question whether you'd want to be found by something so gross.

[Dick Davies @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

'not useful'??? Clearly you've never summoned a shoggoth...

[ninjaKid @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

"Clearly you've never summoned a shoggoth"? Clearly you've never dated a girl . . .

(i keed, i keed. i'm excited about the Call of Cthulu video game coming out!)

[Viney @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

icruise --

its
adj. The possessive form of it.

Used as a modifier before a noun: The airline canceled its early flight to New York.


[Alteration of it's : it + -'s.]

Usage Note: Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is correctly written without an apostrophe. It should not be confused with the contraction it's (for it is or it has), which should always have an apostrophe.

[Miss Pistola @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Yes, its obviously a colossal waste of time since according to you there is no apparent usefullness..these researchers should be skinned alive and set afire. How dare they attempt to "play God." Blasphemers! Technological innovation should be limited BY DEADLY FORCE.

[Bible and Apologetics Teacher @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

A mechanical St. Bernard?

[BlueLaser @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

The videos on the linked site make it look like this is still just a feasibility experiement. There is NO robot! All they're doing is pushing one of those water toys (albeit a big version) across their work bench. Cool idea, but even the geeks have put this one together yet...

[Question Answerer @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Darn. I was just talking to a work mate about a robot that would be totally sealed from its surrounding environment by working just like this except for the fact that my idea was to power the inside of the toroid with a series of tank tracks. My version would have been steerable by allowing the toroid to bend at the junctions between sets of tracks, i.e. 4 sets of tracks, running from front to back in 4 segments.

I'm not explaining it very well it would outwardly look exactly like this.

The early bird get the work eh...

[Dylan Horkin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

what's it for? probably for FINDING victims, not rescuing them.

[Jared @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

I love how in the last part of the video, the "robot" still has all the sparkles in it. I always thought there would be a better use for water snake toys, but who knew it would be in "research".

[fgc @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

hmm, since this whole design is based on, and probably inspired by, the childhood (and adulthood for some us hee hee) toy the "water weenie" or "water dog" or whatever you might call it, i wonder if it is currently protected by a patent...

[DAN @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

String: $.59
Water toy: $1.99
Getting a million dollar research grant: Priceless

[srw @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

..once it finds the victim it engulphs and slowly digests them so that the can later easily be extracting through a small hose..