Amoebalike Robots for Search and Rescue

A novel form of locomotion inspired by the way amoebas move could help robots get in places other robots can't reach.

Roboticists at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA, have developed a novel form of locomotion for robotics based on the way the single-celled amoeba moves. Unlike any other robots, the Virginia Tech ones are designed to use their entire outer skin as a means of propulsion.

Toroidal in shape—a bit like an elongated cylindrical doughnut—robots of this new breed differ from wheeled, tracked, or legged bots in that they move by continuously turning themselves inside out, says Dennis Hong, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. "The entire outer skin moves," he says.

Read full story in Technology Review.