Daniel Porter
Aug 16, 2012
Featured

VIDEO - MIT's worm-like locomotion

Worm locomotion is fairly complex given the relative simplicity of the non-arthropod invertebrates. Recently, an MIT-led, international team of researchers have been taking a stab at recreating this motion -- known as peristalsis -- with a robot they call "meshworm." As the video describes and demonstrates, this robot is unique in the malleable materials used to construct it. Applications for this form of flexible locomotion are undoubtedly numerous, but something about picturing the meshworm as a "next generation endoscope" doesn't quite sit well with me.