A team of researchers has taken inspiration from the California blackworm — which when working together in bunches create a powerful ball of blackworms capable of accomplishing more as a team than as individuals — to create a new robot.
According to its developers from the Designing Emergence Laboratory at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the blackworm-inspired robotic platform features soft, thin, worm-like threads composed of synthetic polymer materials that can instantly tangle together and untangle.
A ball of California blackworms. Source: Harry Tuazon/Georgia Institute of Technology
The team noted that each robot measures roughly 1 foot long and they are individually powered. Specifically, when an internal air chamber is pressurized, the robot "worm" will curl up. When several robot worms curl near each other, they tangle into one blob. Once entangled, the worm bots can move as a cohesive unit on both land and in water.
The team intends to study the dynamics of group behaviors that emerge from physical entanglement, and to eventually bestow those capabilities onto artificial systems that could potentially explore large spaces, navigate gaps, steer objects, climb buildings and more.
The team also intends to create an untethered version of the robots that rely on microfluidics to guide its actions.
For more on the worm-inspired robots, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of the Designing Emergence Laboratory at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
