NASA wants to develop a jelly-like, shape-shifting rover that could be the future mechanical explorers in Mars. The agency has applied to patent this futuristic concept at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.
The new machine, which radically departs from NASA's current rover technology, will be built to address the mobility challenge. Machines with wheels such as the car-sized Curiosity rover presently roaming around the Red Planet are always at risk of getting stuck in rough terrain. The new rover will seek to eliminate this vulnerability by mimicking the way slugs and worms move, according to the Daily Mail.
"The presently disclosed robots change shape in the direction of intended travel to provide improved surface mobility along with enhanced protection from the elements," NASA explained in the patent's summary.
NASA calls the space exploration rover concept as an "amorphous robot," which contains liquid within a mechanism that that can conform to any terrain and change shape in the direction of its intended travel. Another version will include electromagnetic spheres, along with the liquid and other robotic elements. A third concept entailed a flexible tube that can move like an earthworm.
NASA has already demonstrated a shape-shifting rover concept in the past, which it called as "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" or ANTS. These are miniature robotic pyramids joined together to form a swarm that can flow or alter its shape according to the terrain.
