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It seems like every week there’s another example of a new robot modeled after a real creature in the animal kingdom. From dogs and bats, to roaches and desert lizards, the natural world is a constant source of inspiration for engineers. But while most robotics researchers use animals as a base for their machine’s movement, an ambitious team of Duke University engineers set out to make something entirely new: a robot whose form factor and movement aren’t derived from biology, but from the universe’s underlying physics.

Say hello to Argus, a 20-legged, blob-looking robot capable of seeing in all directions at the same time and able to move almost instantly in any direction. The amorphous-looking sphere has no top or bottom, no left or right, and will keep trekking through sand, dirt, and gravel even when some of its legs are destroyed. It can also use its many legs to shimmy up narrow walls, a move similar to a wall jump in “Super Mario.” 

The engineers behind Argus say their intriguing, if not slightly terrifying, creation isn’t just another incremental step forward in robotics. It’s the first member of a totally new category of “dynamically symmetric machines.” The findings were published this week in the journal Science Robotics.

“Watching Argus move is unlike watching any other robot we’ve worked with,” study co-author and Duke PhD student Jiaxun Liu said in a statement . “The first time we saw it navigate among trees and rough terrain, even under heavy collisions, we knew this was something different.” 

Biological tradeoffs

Though somewhat human-looking, upright bipedal robots from companies like Figure and Tesla are all the rage these days, engineers have long looked to other animals to inspire their machines, because animals are simply better than Homo sapiens at certain tasks. Dogs and other quadrupeds are more agile, bats can fly, and bugs can scurry into hard-to-reach places. 

However,  at least in terms of movement, each of the pluses of these specific animals has also come with some minuses. Dogs and other quadrupeds are remarkably fast and nimble when moving forwards, but ask them to replicate that movement when moving backwards and you’re in for a problem.

With those inherent biological tradeoffs in mind, the team at Duke’s General Robotics Lab set out to make something completely different. Taking inspiration from underlying physics, they wanted to see if they could make a robot based around “dynamic symmetry,” which they define as the ability to generate forces and acceleration with uniform magnitude in all directions. 

In other words, such a robot would take the idea of left or right and up and down and throw them out the window. Instead, it would be capable of moving in any direction, at any time, without any privilege given to one particular direction. The goal was essentially to build possibly the world’s first “omnidirectional” robot.

Argus keeps on coming—even when you break its legs 

The design team  eventually settled on a spherical core, or base, with a bunch of legs sticking out of it. They  made multiple versions in a simulation, one with as few as eight legs and another with as many as 40. Eventually they settled on an even 20 legs for the physical build. Each of those legs is tipped with a camera that serves as one of Argus’ many eyes. Fitting, then, that it’s named after a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. The researchers describe Argus as visually similar to a sea urchin, but even that’s selling it short. It doesn’t really look like anything in nature, which makes its uncanny movement in real-world testing all the more unsettling.

In testing, Argus  could move in any direction just as quickly and comfortably as any other. The upside of that is that the blob is actually quite adaptable to different terrain despite its unusual appearance. It can easily traverse forest, wet surfaces, and sand, and could climb over certain obstacles. Argus’ ability to rapidly redistribute its weight also meant that it excelled at recovering when researchers tried to shove it off course. While Argus isn’t the first robot to right itself after getting pummeled by a researcher, what makes it unique is that it can redistribute its weight even if some of its legs get damaged or fail altogether. 

In other words, you can chop off Argus’ legs and it will just keep coming.

Argus joins a family of DARPA-backed robots 

The Duke researchers frame their interest in building this new category of machine as primarily motivated by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in mechanical science. Still, it’s hard not to ignore the researchers’ most notable funder: the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Known for incubating some of the military’s most notorious  research and development projects, DARPA is responsible for everything from Boston Dynamics’ beef Atlas humanoid to a massive, experimental manta ray inspired uncrewed underwater vehicle. 

So, while it’s still not clear what exactly Argus will ever be used for, paper coauthor and postdoctoral researcher at Duke’s General Robotics Lab Boxi Xia says the experimentation and exploration was success in itself.

“Argus is an existence proof,” Xia said in a statement. “It shows that designing for dynamic symmetry isn’t just a theoretical curiosity. It produces a robot you can deploy in the wild, on uneven ground and in clutter, even in low-gravity settings. It changes what’s possible.”

The post This creepy blob robot will keep going even if you break its legs appeared first on Popular Science.

Strikes on Bemani damaged key water reservoir for 20,000 people living in area amid a historic drought in the country

Military strikes that damaged two water storage facilities in southern Iran may constitute a war crime, military and legal experts say, after reviewing media reports and visual evidence of a 10 June strike on Bemani, a small district about 2 miles from the strait of Hormuz.

It’s unclear if the strikes deliberately targeted the district’s water tanks, or if they unintentionally destroyed a key reservoir for about 20,000 people living nearby. But if the tanks were the target, then the legal question becomes critical, Brian Finucane, a former state department lawyer, said. “It’s either a military objective or it’s a civilian object: attacking one is lawful, attacking the other is a war crime,” Finucane said.

He lambasted Jimmy Carter during the 1980 hostage crisis; now Trump’s presidency could be similarly blemished

It began with the fate of hostages.

Donald Trump’s first recorded foray into politics was sparked by the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, which saw 52 American diplomats held incommunicado for 444 days.

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Jane and Alan Kelvey’s holiday yacht met a warship in the Channel – at a tense time for Anglo-Russian relations

“We actually had right of way,” said Jane Kelvey, a little crossly, though keeping it civil. “But we weren’t going to argue with a warship.”

The dramatic standoff in the Channel on Tuesday morning between Admiral Grigorovich, a 125-metre (409ft) battle-hardened Russian frigate, and Bright Future, a 12-metre (40ft) pleasure yacht owned and helmed by Jane, 69, and her husband, Alan, 71, has rather caught the nation’s imagination.

Keir Starmer says operation involving National Crime Agency has delivered ‘yet another blow’ to Russia and Putin

Keir Starmer said he directed British troops to seize a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel in the early hours of Sunday, the first time the UK has led a naval capture since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The prime minister released a video on TikTok early on Sunday showing heavily armed Royal Marine commandos boarding the oil-laden Smyrtos tanker, which had been sailing south of the Isle of Wight en route from Russia to India.

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Washington claims vessel was violating its blockade of Iranian ports and failed to comply with instructions

The Indian government has voiced a “strong protest” after three Indian seafarers were killed in US military strikes against oil tankers travelling through the strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command confirmed that its aircraft had fired two Hellfire missiles at the engine room of the MT Settebello as it sailed through the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday.

The Mary Rose is a remarkable remnant of maritime history. One of England’s largest Tudor Era vessels, the four-masted carrack sailed with a crew of around 450 sailors during the 16th century French and Italian Wars armed with anywhere between 78 and 91 guns. Those weren’t the only tools at the Mary Rose’s disposal. Thanks to primary sources and an extensive analysis following its recovery in 1982, the ship included some truly gnarly handheld weapons.

Some of the most intense—and mysterious—of these were giant incendiary darts. However, there is very little historical information tied to them. Although reminiscent of flaming arrows, these much larger variants were simply far too large to be launched from bows. Historians aren’t even sure exactly how they were wielded or crafted, so medieval weapons specialist and replica crafter Tod Todeschini decided to investigate for himself. The result is a two-part video series that documents his research into the fire darts, as well as the construction of his very own set.

Based on the remnants of the three surviving original examples, Todeschini’s weapon combines an incendiary mixture wrapped in flammable cloth that is then encased in pitch. Wooden fuses inserted into the casing provide a delayed ignition, allowing the wielder enough time to aim and launch the wooden spear at their enemy.

But how were they used in combat? While there is no definitive answer, Todeschini’s experiments alongside Mary Rose Museum research director Alex Hildred led to some likely possibilities. He quickly realized that his initial instinct to hurl it one-handed like an oversized dart was basically impossible—and incredibly dangerous. Once the javelin was lit, you want to be as far away from the melting pitch and flames as possible. Knowing this, he then learned that he could effectively launch the weapon by gripping it near the shaft’s middle while using his other hand to support the end. Subsequent throws easily carried the flaming spear upwards of 60 feet away. That may not be very far compared to a bow-and-arrow’s distance, but it’s more than enough for someone standing in a crow’s nest aboard the Mary Rose to reach an enemy ship that has drawn up to the vessel during close combat.

It’s also plausible that sailors fired their darts from specialized cannons. A standard amount of gunpowder would destroy the supersized arrow before it hit its target, but a soft charge producing less force is a feasible alternative. Todeschini also tested this version by launching a scale model of the dart from a tube using compressed gas.

From there, it was time to see what kind of destruction these weapons rained on unfortunate sailors’ heads. In short, you would not want to encounter one of these things. Aside from virtually inextinguishable flames fueled by molten pitch, the payloads likely included toxic ingredients like camphor and arsenic. The ensuing clouds of smoke would not only blind anyone nearby, but choke them, too. To illustrate their efficacy, Todeschini demonstrated what happens when one of the darts lands in an enclosed environment like those below deck on a ship. After firing one into a shipping container, it only took a matter of seconds before the entire area was enveloped in noxious fumes.

While the weapons weren’t useful in every situation, it’s easy to see how a few well aimed launches could turn the tide during naval combat. That said, they weren’t a guarantee for success—the Mary Rose ultimately sank during battle in 1545, after all.

The post Intrepid man tests giant flaming darts used on 16th century warship appeared first on Popular Science.

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G-AHAG 1945 De Havilland Dragon Rapide DH-89A RAF RL944
This Aircraft was built by Brush Coachworks Ltd which was at Loughborough in Leicestershire Brush Coachworks Ltd, DH89A in the livery of Scillonia Airways and is based at Membury airfield in Berkshire
A number of Rapides were used during WWII to provide internal flights under the control of National Air Communications
Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Wings & Wheels Air Show 30th May 2026
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