Saturday, April 05, 2008

USC's Superbot, modular robot systems



USC's ISI's Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory's Superbot is a new type of robots that are modular, multifunctional, and easily reconfigurable. Its modules can be dynamically configured into different robots to fit the user's needs.

For example, it can crawl, walk, roll, climb, carry, fetch, or survey. The reconfiguration and module exchanges are easy and do not require any special knowledge or training.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Crazy stange stuff--can you imagine being really ripped, drunk, or high, and wandering down the beach at night, just to encounter the 7-module blackened snake thingy crawling over the sand dune crest you just layed down below to get a little straightened out on? YIPES!

Very eerie movements involved with the multi-module robotic modules.

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Honey, watch out, that veeeery slow modular robot overlord is coming straight for you!

I dunno, here's a suggestion: polygonal, maybe? Would still have a flat surface, and would reduce energy requirements-then throw on little hooks, that can pop out, pop back in, for some traction, maybe. Clearly, these dudes are working with robot, not nature, in mind. Nature 'prefers' working with polygons-them thar polygons tend to be, you know, oh, what's the word? Effecient. Yeah, that's it.