A patent awarded to NASA last week details plans for a new amorphous robot that suggests that the US space agency is planning to move away from its traditional “lab-on-wheels” type of rover in favor of a radical redesign inspired by worms and amoebas.
According to Gizmodo and Motherboard, the proposed new rover design would ditch wheels or treads as the preferred form of locomotion in favor of a method in which it would slither around like a blob. The vehicle, which would be soft, could alternately use electromagnets or a sac that would alternately expand and deflate in order to slink like a slug, the patent indicated.
NASA has dubbed the proposed rover the “amorphous surface robot”, and reports indicate that it was designed to overcome several of the issues that face large, heavy traditional rovers which are susceptible to the harsh conditions of the planets they explore. The new design could help NASA explore terrain that would cause current rovers to become bogged down or stuck.
The patent also said that the rover would include “a compartmented bladder containing fluid, a valve assembly, and an outer layer encapsulating the bladder and valve assembly. The valve assembly draws fluid from a compartment(s) and discharges the drawn fluid into a designated compartment to displace the designated compartment with respect to the surface.”
Four designs being considered by NASA researchers
In addition to being better equipped to handle potentially hazardous terrain, NASA’s new rover concept would also purportedly be better protected from harsh conditions on planets it explores—making it less susceptible to damage than conventional rovers, Motherboard explained.
“Amorphous robots are useful in dusty and sandy environments in which greater mobility, passive shape changing, and immunity to dust and contamination are important. This includes both surface and subsurface robotic exploration” the agency said on its official project website, adding that the machines would also be “useful in emergency and industrial activities, such as search and rescue… and inspection of oil pipelines or sewage systems.”
Four different possible designs are being considered at the Langley Research Center in Virginia: the Bladder Bot, which uses a fluid-filled blatter and circulating high-viscosity fluid to move; the Inchworm Robot, which has a tube-like design and uses electromagnets to move like a worm; the Electromagnetic Sphere Robot, which uses electromagnetic spheres in a flexible, fluid filled bladder to move; and the Polymer Cell Robot, which is a shell that contains polymeric cells which swell or contract in order to make the rover roll.
“Traditional rovers like the Curiosity on Mars or the Yutu on the Moon have defined planetary exploration for the past half-century, and remain powerful symbols of our off-Earth reach,” said Motherboard. “But future explorers may resemble blobfish, worms, ants, or even locust swarms more than the remote-controlled cars that made the first inroads on other worlds.”
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Feature Image: NASA/United States Patent and Trademark Office
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