Shape-shifting, organ-probing chembots coming soon

The current generation of robots, whether they're the gun-carrying or child-coddling variety, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to suit their intended purpose. But if research going on at Tufts University comes to fruition, future robots might feature designs that are rather more flexible. Scientists at the school are working on so-called "chemical robots" with no solid parts. Chembots could squeeze under doors, slither through cracks in walls, and even squirm into your orifices, performing internal diagnoses before slowly dissolving away, leaving nothing more than a feeling of creepy violation behind. What about assuming the shape and voice of John Connor's adopted mother? We're hoping that's still a few years off.

[DefPo3t @ Jul 1st 2008 1:37PM]

I read that "shapshifting colon probing robot" D :

[alexmueller @ Jul 1st 2008 2:15PM]

I for one welcome are new shape shifting overlords.

[axiom @ Jul 1st 2008 3:32PM]

These "chembots" would probably make very efficient delivery systems for biological or chemical "agents". Welcome to a new frontier in the assassination & warfare business.

Got a new tech that threatens the oil cartel? Enter: a chemical goo that seeps through your window sill and deliveries chemicals into your body imitating a brain anyerism. After checking your vitals (dead) it dissolves into a puddle of water at the foot of the bed...

Live in an area targeted for predatory capitalism (corporate-friendly "democracy" building)? Enter: you see (barely) a plane high up in the sky forming a con(chem)trail, and soon after it starts raining. Next thing you know the puddles of water are moving, FAST, toward you and every other living thing around you. You run inside, but it follows you under your door! Next thing you know you can't move. You,re paralyzed. Now you can't breathe! The last image you see, through the window, is a street littered with stiff, wide-eyed bodies, as you fall to the floor, suffocating...

[aardWolf @ Jul 1st 2008 3:50PM]

I personally thought it said "organ-probing fembots"

[XenoX101 @ Jul 1st 2008 1:37PM]

Oh god, Judgement Day

[Blackstar @ Jul 1st 2008 3:35PM]

Come with me if you want to live.

[Mr. Fax Sender @ Jul 1st 2008 1:38PM]

It's just a matter of time before it becomes self aware.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 1st 2008 2:56PM]

The Terminator: [impersonating John's voice] Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking.

T-1000 impersonating Janelle: Wolfie's fine, honey, Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?

The Terminator: [hangs up the phone] Your foster parents are dead.

[Wesley Burchnall @ Jul 1st 2008 5:39PM]

The Terminator: [impersonating John's voice] Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking.

T-1000 impersonating *John Conner*: Wolfie's fine, honey, Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?

The Terminator: [hangs up the phone] Your foster parents are *already* dead.

[urbanpeasant @ Jul 1st 2008 1:39PM]

organ probing eh?

I wager they'll probe yah with their diabolic sword arms while you're drinking some milk.

[Jherez @ Jul 1st 2008 3:05PM]

^^ Who died and made you moderator?

[sully @ Jul 1st 2008 1:39PM]

So Alex Mack was actually a theoretical prediction?

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jul 1st 2008 1:41PM]

And remember folks, it hates, ABSOLUTELY hates when you drink milk in front of it.

[Flashpoint @ Jul 1st 2008 1:48PM]

YEAH...first it killed a guy drinking milk, and then a guy drinking coffee.

The coffee had MILK in it !

[xingchen2003 @ Jul 1st 2008 1:43PM]

i personally don't care about judgment day, i just hope it can shape-shift into a hot chick. that will keep me happy for a loooong while.

[CraigJ @ Jul 1st 2008 1:56PM]

if they look like Kristanna Loken I'll take 2...

[PGP-Protector @ Jul 1st 2008 2:05PM]

it will keep you happy for the rest of your life.
though it might be a short life

[Podaman @ Jul 1st 2008 1:43PM]

Wolfie's fine, dear, Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?

[Mr. Fax Sender @ Jul 1st 2008 1:48PM]

Your foster parents are dead.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 1st 2008 2:58PM]

WTF are the odds that I quoted the same thing you did.

Strange.

[Podaman @ Jul 1st 2008 3:40PM]

I wouldn't say Lowest Odds, but maybe Low Odds.

[PDubNYC @ Jul 1st 2008 3:54PM]

I'd say the odds are pretty good, since you did it an hour after he did.

Call Ripley

[M.Samba @ Jul 1st 2008 1:47PM]

No seriously guys, I know I like to joke about the robot uprising but seriously? ChemBots? They go through any crack, under any door? Im starting to get legitimately worried about our future...

[blackfeather @ Jul 1st 2008 1:50PM]

"adopted"?

Did I miss an important scene in that movie, or has the unwatched series changed the story?

[Chris @ Jul 1st 2008 1:57PM]

Sarah Connor was in a mental institution, so John had a foster family.

[Kris @ Jul 1st 2008 1:58PM]

Wow you must have missed a good 20+ minutes of the movie...

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jul 1st 2008 2:00PM]

She tried to blow up a computer factory or some shit. She's a complete psycho. Like some German metallic endoskeleton under living tissue dude is going to just come out of nowhere on a Harley-Davidson Fatboy and save me from some shiny goopy guy.

[blackfeather @ Jul 1st 2008 2:03PM]

duh. I'm failing epically today. (see below for my out-of-thread reply)

[ChodaBoy @ Jul 19th 2008 12:09PM]

1. Foster is correct, not "adopted"
2. The correct term would be "adoptive", anyway

adoptive
Adjective
1. acquired or related by adoption: an adoptive father

[Danakin @ Jul 1st 2008 1:51PM]

...I'd trust MIT with this way more than I'd trust a place called Tufts...

[sully @ Jul 1st 2008 1:57PM]

Just send it a few stops down the red line.

[Matthew @ Jul 1st 2008 1:59PM]

Man...this is awesome! it would be cool if one of these things gets inside somebodies body and then the person could do the same cool stuff!

[Jherez @ Jul 1st 2008 2:15PM]

But when skynet becomes self aware it's going to be a pretty sick and disturbing exit from your body O_o.

[oddish2211 @ Jul 1st 2008 2:05PM]

Odo's cousin

[Frun @ Jul 1st 2008 2:00PM]

Knives and stabbing weapons

[blackfeather @ Jul 1st 2008 2:01PM]

Oh yes.. now I remember. Sorry - its only 2:15 in the afternoon here on the east coast.

[Echo1 @ Jul 1st 2008 2:05PM]

"Come with me if you want to Live"

[Jherez @ Jul 1st 2008 2:09PM]

*Runs off to stock up on liquid nitrogen and to invest in a pool of molten metal*

[Chris @ Jul 1st 2008 2:31PM]

Everyone here is so negative. I for one embrace our future liquid-metallic overlords. Hail the superior beings!

[01 @ Jul 1st 2008 2:36PM]

And so continues the path of technology both amazing and scaring the living shit out of me...well done sirs.

[Harry Wagstaff @ Jul 1st 2008 2:41PM]

If you can squeeze both into 40mm grenades you're sorted!

[Harry Wagstaff @ Jul 1st 2008 2:42PM]

Comment system am fail. This is meant to be a reply to Jherez.

[Johnny @ Jul 1st 2008 2:43PM]

The joke isn't lost one me, but seriously, are any of you really afraid of this kind of technology?

Technology beyond our imagination exists out there in both the hands of good and evil. There is always something to fear, but this type of tech is nothing to fear. Nobody is talking about self-aware chembots. I envision this doing more good than harm after successful study. Anything can be turned to evil if used the right way and technology is only capable of what we make it capable.

[Johnny @ Jul 1st 2008 2:46PM]

*on

[Mic2000 @ Jul 1st 2008 3:11PM]

Agreed, self awareness is still a far stadium.

[Savage @ Jul 1st 2008 4:53PM]

You mean like... No fate but what we make for ourselves

[BigD145 @ Jul 1st 2008 3:11PM]

Engadget could have used the cover of one of the Rama books to illustrate this as well.

[BratPAQ @ Jul 1st 2008 3:19PM]

so, is this the realization of this prediction? http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/22/robots-to-be-our-lovers-by-2050-not-just-in-massachussetts/

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 1st 2008 3:26PM]

pffffffffffffttt chemical robots!? whats next cyborgs with metal endoskeletons covered by real human tissue with huge pecs and dark shades? silly humans.

[axiom @ Jul 1st 2008 3:30PM]

These "chembots" would probably make very efficient delivery systems for biological or chemical "agents". Welcome to a new frontier in the assassination & warfare business.

Got a new tech that threatens the oil cartel? Enter: a chemical goo that seeps through your window sill and deliveries chemicals into your body imitating a brain anyerism. After checking your vitals (dead) it dissolves into a puddle of water at the foot of the bed.

Live in an area targeted for predatory capitalism (corporate-friendly "democracy" building)? Enter: you see (barely) a plane high up in the sky forming a con(chem)trail, and soon after it starts raining. Next thing you know the puddles of water are moving, FAST, toward you and every other living thing around you. You run inside, but it follows you under your door! Next thing you know you can't move. You,re paralyzed. Now you can't breathe! The last image you see, through the window, is a street littered with stiff, wide-eyed bodies, as you fall to the floor, suffocating.