On the cusp of the fall season and my favorite time of year due to Halloween, I feel today's invention is the perfect choice to talk about.
Do you know The Hearse song that goes:
"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
the worms play pinochle on your snout
they eat your eyes, they eat your nose
they eat the jelly between your toes"
If you don't, you should go look it up right now. I'll wait.
Today's invention made me think of this song with worms being the focus. I hope you all aren't sick of robots because I have another robot invention for you today. The worm robot
Developed by GE Aerospace, the Sensiworm (Soft ElectroNics Skin-Innervated Robotic Worm) is a worm-like robot designed to be an extra set of eyes and ears for service operators of aircraft. Operators today use advanced inspection instruments like video borescopes that provide very valuable inspection data but are limited in their turbine coverage due to gravity issues that can cause the tip to settle when not braced against a structure within the engine. With the intention of one day being able to inspect and repair jet engines on its own, the soft robot would, in theory, minimize downtime and be able to perform less invasive inspections while giving operators full access to all parts of the aircraft.
GE has compared the Sensiworm's purpose in aerospace engineering to how soft robotics have been used for minimally intrusive patient surgeries like the pangolin robot developed to travel through the human body.
Remote-controlled by operators, the Sensiworm moves along like an inchworm, crawling across engine parts, sensing and avoiding obstacles, reaching places where gravity would stop other tools (thanks to its suction-cup feet), and measuring the thickness of thermal barrier coatings. GE says it can even sniff out gas leaks.
“With mini-robot companions like Sensiworm, service operators would have multiple additional sets of eyes and ears to perform on-wing inspections,” said Deepak Trivedi, Principal Robotics Engineer, GE Aerospace Research. “With their soft, compliant design, they could inspect every inch of jet engine transmitting live video and real-time data about the condition of parts that operators typically check.”
Sensiworm can be deployed through the turbine inlet or exhaust of an engine and provide coverage of a much larger swath of the turbine that would otherwise be missed using traditional borescopes, bespoke robotic devices, or snake platforms using conventional port access points. The goal is to provide on-wing service personnel with multiple sets of trusted eyes and ears inside the engine that have the ability to inspect and repair critical areas of the engine.
GE Aerospace developed the robot worm through SEMI Flex Tech, a US Army-funded coalition that's focused on advancing flexible electronics.
GE is still in the research and development stages with this invention, so it's not coming to market soon unfortunately and the company hasn't given any details on when they expect it to be ready. But when and if it ever is ready, it could really make a change in aircraft service operations. A bunch of little worm-robot coworkers crawling around, just not eating your eyes or nose but detecting and repairing problems.
