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“Do we get paid for this?”

– The Ohio Players, “Funky Worm”

At several leading universities, roboticist researchers funded by a Pentagon grant have created an almost-indestructible synthetic earthworm (designated “Meshworm” after its soft, mesh-like body) that could contribute to U.S. espionage missions. The scientists work at MIT, Harvard, and Seoul National University.

The scientists published their work in the journal IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. The article’s authors included four researchers from MIT (Autumn, Daniela Rus, Sangok Seok and Cagdas Denizel Onal), one from Seoul National University (Kyu-Jin Cho) and one from Harvard (Robert J. Wood).

Have you ever wondered whether these folks have ever read Asimov‘s “Three Laws of Robotics?”

MIT’s Sangbae Kim first conceived of the robotic worm about three years ago as part of the ongoing Chembot project.

“You can throw it, and it won’t collapse,” Kim said. “Most mechanical parts are rigid and fragile at small scale, but the parts in Meshworms are all fibrous and flexible. The muscles are soft, and the body is soft … we’re starting to show some body-morphing capability.”

The worm was built with flexible materials: a mesh tube for a body and nickel-titanium alloy for muscle. The muscle is “shape-memory” material that expands and contracts in response to heat. When the team sent an electrical current through the wire, the team caused Meshworm to move like a real earthworm.

The article states:

It’s odd to think that a tiny worm robot similar to our digestive system could help the U.S. military in reconnaissance missions. The Chartered Institute for IT reports that the worm could be used for spying. Then again, maybe it’s not that odd since the project was funded by The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency <DARPA>.

You remember them. They had a LOT to do with the Internet! 😉

-Bill at

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