Jamming explains Gizmag, explained also in the video is a physical process where a material is made to transition from a liquid-like to a solid-like state by increasing its density.  (Shape behind the morph: right)

The ChemBot achieves this thanks to a hyper-elastic skin composed of multiple cellular compartments filled with air and loosely-packed particles. When the air is removed, the decrease in pressure constricts the skin and the particles shift slightly to fill the void left by the air, resulting in the solidification of the compartment.

Beneath the ChemBot's jammable skin is an incompressible fluid and an actuator that can vary its volume. Unjamming various compartments of the ChemBot’s skin and inflating the interior actuator causes the Chembot's skin to stretch, changing the shape of the robot.

It is this method of controlled inflation that allows the ChemBot to roll around. And that's certainly neater than the one time holy grail of a flexible slater's legs (left)

The ChemBot is the result of a $3.3m award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office given to iRobot to “develop a soft, flexible, mobile robot that can identify and maneuver through openings smaller than its actual structural dimensions to perform Department of Defense (DoD) tasks within complex and highly cluttered environments.”

For a more mundane interest in robotic vacuum cleaning the new iRobot Roomba  58103 coming soon has 3 virtual wall lighthouses and a wireless command centre as well as its 'untangling' system!

Och, Gaberlunzie will just be waiting for the young ChemBot, thank you.