{"id":19270,"date":"2022-11-28T13:03:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T13:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/28\/mit-is-working-on-self-assembling-robots\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T13:03:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T13:03:23","slug":"mit-is-working-on-self-assembling-robots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/28\/mit-is-working-on-self-assembling-robots\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT Is Working on Self-Assembling Robots"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today, humans build robots, but in the future, robots could be programmed to build more of themselves. Researchers at MIT\u2019s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) have created robotic subunits called \u201cvoxels\u201d that can self-assemble into a rudimentary robot, and then collect more voxels to assemble larger structures or even more robots.<\/p>\n

The researchers, led by CBA Director Neil Gershenfeld, concede that we\u2019re still years away from a true self-replicating robot, but the work with voxels is answering some vital questions that will help us get there. For one, the team has shown that it\u2019s feasible to make the assembler bot and the structural components of whatever you\u2019re building can be made of the same subunits \u2014 in this case, voxels.<\/p>\n

Each robot consists of several voxels connected end-to-end<\/a>. They use small but powerful magnets to latch onto additional subunits, which they can use to assemble new objects or make themselves larger. Eventually, a human operator might simply be able to tell these self-assembling robots what they want to be built, allowing the machines to figure out the specifics.<\/p>\n

For example, if one robot isn\u2019t enough to build the required structure, it can make a copy of itself from the same voxel components to split the work. When building something large, the robots could also decide to make themselves bigger and thus more efficient for the task. It could also be necessary for large robots to split into smaller ones for more detailed work.<\/p>\n