You’ll have to excuse any terminator references, but after a team at MIT used the reference to describe their self-assembling cube bots, it’s a bit difficult not to be tempted. The team had envisioned a miniaturized version of what they created in large numbers, rearranging into different shapes as needed. The obvious reference they made then was to the T-1000 robot from Terminator 2, who was made of a liquid metal that could reshape into different people and shapes. Pretty scary, right?
Well, it’s not as scary as you (or most people pointlessly freaking out) would think. The robots aren't sentient - or even close - so there’s no need to worry about a robot-induced apocalyptic future (yet). On the other hand, the ideas the MIT team had for using these little robots are quite inspired, and would really be quite amazing. Suggestions included temporary building or bridge repairs, self-assembling scaffolding, and more. Can you imagine a building under heavy stress after an earthquake being stabilized by a bunch of little cubes that moved in on their own? Besides the level of safety creating for repairing the building, that’s just damn cool.
Straight out science fiction, the scientists working on theses little cubes want hundreds of the cubes to be able to “identify each other, coalesce, and autonomously transform into a chair, or a ladder, or a desk, on demand”. If the things can become cheap enough, it would be a hilariously futuristic thing to just have these cubes automatically become chairs and tables in a school gymnasium for a banquet of some sort. I can’t help but nerd out a little bit over that idea. Chair storage? Who needs that anymore?
Of course, they still have a way to go. Currently, the cubes are controlled by radio, but in the future the team wants them to be autonomous (not sentient). Using different sensors, the cubes could work out what they should be doing on their own, and act based on instructions. It’s still a large step to being self-aware, so everyone just need to relax and think of the possibilities. Hell, if you just want to be selfish, I would definitely just get them as a toy. It’s like blocks for nerds who are children at heart (aka, all of them). www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZbJS6LZbs
The primary method for manipulating how the blocks connect are super-strong magnets. Manipulating a flywheel inside allows the blocks to jump around, and then the magnets force the blocks reconnect in the correct place. When he came up with the idea, John Romanishin asked his professor about it and was told it couldn’t be done. Haha, that’s funny. I swear that little cube just jumped through the air. These things are awesome.
Researchers have been messing with this type of problem for a while, but no one has thought to take such a simple approach. Until now, prototype have been incredibly complex and heavy. Now it’s just a matter of time until we see these little guys applied somewhere and in the news again. They’ll be back (Anyone? No? *shrug*). I personally can’t wait.
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