This spider robot looks a lot scarier than it really is. In fact, it might save your life. The Ellos RescueBot is designed to reach untraversable areas where humans can’t squeeze their meager two legs into, sort of like the Amoeba Bot. The damage resistant robot is a perfect example of Asimov’s laws of robotics. It saves you without getting hurt.

Its main standout feature is 10 lifting arms on its bottom. When it reaches its target, the legs extend, closing around the subject in need of some spider saving. Spiderman might just have met his match. (more…)

Much like the lifting robot doesn’t use typical motors to provide its strength, the Amoeba Bot, made by Virgina Tech, is a robot that contains no legs or wheels. Based on the single-celled amoeba, the “Blob” bot uses nothing but its own skin to propel its body on its way. Shaped toroidally, pretty much like a long tube shaped donut type frame, the Blob Bot moves using its own skin to propel forward.

Robots, such as this Blob Bot, would be effective in search and rescue type missions since they can squeeze into the smallest of spaces, including a fallen ceiling, or maybe a giant rock? The Blob Bot could also one day be used in planetary exploration in search of unknown and inhabitable landscapes. The actual movement is obtained by using contracting and expanding actuator rings along the length of the robot. When these rings expand in its rear, and compact in its front, it produces a forward motion. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]