This week in the Robot Takeover

You thought it was over. You had been routinely checking this blog for more news on the Carnegie Science Center's Robo-World or whatever euphemism they're using over there for ROBO-UPRISING WITH THE INTENTION OF ENSLAVING OUR PESKY CARBON-BASED OVERLORDS, and you were under the presumption that, for the time being, the onslaught was over.

Sadly, this is not the case. In fact, our perennial robo-enemies at iRobot are one step closer to being able to morph into a goo, slip in through cracks and kill you and your parents while you sleep.

As a new kind of chemical robot (or chembot), the blob bot has stretchy silicone skin, which is composed of multiple cellular compartments that each contain a "jammable slurry." When some of these cells are unjammed, and an actuator in the center of the robot is inflated, the robot inflates in the areas of the unjammed cells. By controlling which cells are unjammed, the researchers can change the shape of the robot and make it roll in a specific direction.

The new robot is being funded by DARPA, which gave iRobot $3.3 million to work on the chembot last year. The goal is to build a robot that can squeeze through tiny openings smaller than its own dimensions, which could be valuable in a variety of missions.

Yeah, like the mission T-1000 had where he morphed his limbs into all kinds of weapons, only to become Johnny Cash's father and probably kill him too.

On top of it all, iRobot released a video of how it works, perhaps to jazz us all up about technology so that, when the revolt happens, we blindly submit our sovereignty in exchange for a sweet iPod Touch with one of those fancy workout armbands...God do I love listening to Nickelback and Fergie while I sweat off that Sammy's corned beef...anyways, here it is: