Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented the concept of “Walking oligomeric
Robots can be useful to create permanentbases on the moon, engineers believe. They can lay cables, deploy and maintain solar panels, build homes and service buildings. But if for each task to create a unique design, a huge number of robots will be required, which will be too expensive to deliver to the satellite.
As an alternative approach, engineersdeveloped a set of universal robotic parts from which you can assemble different robots. Parts of the system include worm-like robotic limbs. They are easy to put together by attaching the "limbs" to a special base. Together, this design works like a walking robot.
Creation of various robots from worm components. Video: MIT
Depending on the mission, the details may beconfigured to create, for example, large "pack" bots capable of lifting heavy solar panels up a hill. Those same parts can be transformed into six-legged spider robots that can be lowered down a lava tube to extract frozen water. After completing a mission, any robot can be disassembled and its parts used to set up a new device for a different task.
The authors of the development note that each ofindependent articulated robots - worm their motors, sensors, computer and battery. They can be assembled together for complex tasks or separately for smaller purposes.
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Cover: Artistic illustration of the MIT WORMS project. Image: MIT