JamBots: Soft Robots Based on Particle Jamming, Like this Hexapod from iRobot

iRobot has received ample attention for their particle jamming innovations (ie, the "Jamming Blob Robot" and "Jamming Gripper"), created under the now-expired DARPA Chembot program.  However, if you’re like me, their particle jamming actuators and hexapod "JamBot" probably alluded your attention — and they’re stinkin’ cool!   That said, I’d like to introduce you to the "Hexapod JamBot" and the "Jamming Modulated Unimorph (JMU) actuator" created by researchers at iRobot and the Jaeger Group at the University of Chicago.