'Star Wars' robots wouldn't survive the real world

Beloved "Star Wars" robots wouldn't fare too well in the real-life desert, according to an analysis in the journal Science Robotics - but they may be onto something with their iconic beeping communication. The new monthly column by Texas A&M University roboticist Robin Murphy took as its first subject the beloved droids R2-D2 and BB-8, rolling robots that play a major role in "Star Wars."

Murphy asked Dan Goldman, a physicist at Georgia Tech, whether a spherical robot like BB-8 would be able to move around over rough terrain like sand - and "he just started giggling hysterically," Murphy told space.com. Goldman described buying one of Sphero's remote-control BB-8 toys as soon as the movie came out, to set up in his lab and test robot locomotion over a variety of granular materials.

5th March 2018