iRobot and University of Chicago researchers built a palm-sized soft-robot prototype called ChemBot that could roll and change shape. In IEEE Spectrum’s 2009 account, squeezing through tiny openings was the project’s goal—not a capability the demonstrated prototype had already shown.
What was iRobot’s shape-shifting blob robot?
ChemBot was a research prototype, not a consumer robot offered for sale. IEEE Spectrum described it on October 13, 2009, around the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, as a palm-sized, completely soft mobile robot developed by researchers at iRobot and the University of Chicago. The article reported the researchers’ paper as presenting the first demonstration of a completely soft, mobile robot using jamming; that is a historical priority claim attributed to the paper, not a general claim about all soft robots.
The footage discussed in the story was about a year old by publication. IEEE Spectrum said the design had since changed, but characterized plans for sensors and connecting multiple blobs as sketchy development directions—not finished features or evidence of what happened afterward. Read IEEE Spectrum’s October 13, 2009 report.
How did ChemBot move?
The team called its method “jamming skin enabled locomotion.” IEEE Spectrum reported that controlling which parts of the blob inflated let it roll, and identified the stretchy skin material as off-the-shelf, two-part silicone rubber.
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A contemporaneous New Atlas explanation gives more detail: the skin had air-filled cellular compartments with loosely packed particles. Removing air constricted the skin and packed those particles more tightly; the robot also had an incompressible fluid and a volume-changing actuator beneath the skin. In that account, changing which skin regions were unjammed while inflating the inner actuator changed the robot’s form and enabled rolling. New Atlas’s contemporaneous explanation describes this mechanism; these details should not be confused with a complete build specification.
Could ChemBot squeeze through small holes?
That was the intended use, not a demonstrated result in the 2009 report. Asked what the robot could be useful for, iRobot researcher Annan Mozeika answered, “to squeeze into small holes.” IEEE Spectrum described rolling and shape changes in the prototype footage, while passage through cracks or beneath doors remained a goal for the project when finished. The account does not establish that the shown robot had traversed openings smaller than itself.
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What was the project meant to do?
IEEE Spectrum connected the small-opening objective to DARPA. A contemporaneous New Atlas report said iRobot received a $3.3 million award from DARPA and the U.S. Army Research Office to develop a soft, flexible mobile robot intended to identify and maneuver through openings smaller than its structural dimensions for Department of Defense tasks in complex, cluttered environments. That amount is a reported funding figure, not a measure of robot performance.
RobAid’s October 18, 2009 coverage listed exploration, search and rescue, space, military, and possible medical uses as possibilities being discussed at the time. It also pointed to challenges involving the power unit, durability, and materials. These were prospective applications and reported technical hurdles, not evidence of deployment or clinical use. RobAid’s October 18, 2009 report.
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What the 2009 coverage does—and does not—establish
- Shown behavior: a palm-sized prototype rolled and changed shape.
- Intended capability: squeezing into small openings was the stated objective; successful passage was not established in the article.
- Possible next steps: adding sensors and linking multiple blobs were reported as development directions, not completed features.
- Later status: the cited coverage is from 2009 and does not establish what became of the project after publication or whether a related product is available now.
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