US - South Korea: Deep-scatter robot development

Under the auspices of the US government, US and Korean scientists have created moving robots as worms on surfaces by bending themselves.

This technique allows robots to be made from soft material through narrow spaces as well as easy movement on rough surfaces. This artificial worm can travel 5mm per second.

The Pentagon's Darpa Research Foundation funds the Meshworm project, which can be used for military purposes.

This is the result of research by scientists at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Seoul National University, Korea.

According to the researchers, the robot-like motion of the robot helps to reduce the noise that the machines generate during operation. Thus, the robotic worm is suitable for surveillance purposes.

Robots can bend like a real worm. (Source: BBC)

Previously, researchers attempted to create such robots from numerals and inflated. But robots of this type are often large and difficult to use in practice.

The research team, funded by the US government, uses 'artificial muscle' made from nickel and titanium wires, which can stretch and shrink when exposed to heat.

By wrapping these wires around a mesh tube, engineers mimic circular bundles of worms. Algorithms are used to send the stretching waves up to five segments of the worm, which control the winding, creating forward motion. Two sub-muscles are attached to the sides of the robot to pull it to the left or right, helping to control the direction of movement of the robot.

Researchers say the robot is very soft, so it does not break or change its structure when it is torn.