Robot builds its own body from sprayable foam

If a sculpture coming to life, a new type of robot body parts using spray-on foam to do. Such a construction could one day be useful in situations where the exact type of robot is not needed is known in advance, as space exploration or investigation.

By Shai Revzen and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Foambot consists of a mobile "mother ship" platform along with some simple common modules are driven flexing and bending. The platform has a built-in supply of chemical reagents and a nozzle, mixing with reagents to expand in tough urethane foam. First remote platform control modules on the floor and then spray foam to connect them into the desired shape.

Software then analyzes the information of active joints, and devises a plan to coordinate the resulting bone animation.

Revzen said the system would be useful for situations where the robots have to navigate the unforeseen obstacles. A snake-like body could be better for crawling rocks, which during a four-legged friend can be better in open terrain to traverse. Since Foam Bots can return to the mother ship to be changed, they can be used to treat a wide variety of tasks.