A recent patent awarded to NASA details plans for a new amorphous robot that suggests that the US space agency is planning to move away from its traditional “lab-on-wheels” type of rover in favor of a radical redesign inspired by worms and amoebas. The patent also said that the rover would include “a compartmented bladder containing fluid, a valve assembly, and an outer layer encapsulating the bladder and valve assembly. The valve assembly draws fluid from a compartment(s) and discharges the drawn fluid into a designated compartment to displace the designated compartment with respect to the surface.”
NASA has dubbed the proposed rover the “amorphous surface robot”, and reports indicate that it was designed to overcome several of the issues that face large, heavy traditional rovers which are susceptible to the harsh conditions of the planets they explore. The new design could help NASA explore terrain that would cause current rovers to become bogged down or stuck. The vehicle, which would be soft, could alternately use electromagnets or a sac that would alternately expand and deflate in order to slink like a slug, the patent indicated.