Article

2005-05-12 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Self-replicating robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction.. Scientists at the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York have created small robots that can build copies of themselves. Each robot consists of several 10cm (4 inch) cubes which have identical machinery, electromagnets to attach and detach to each other and a computer program for replication. The robots can bend and pick up and stack the cubes. "Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological self-reproduction, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology," Hod Lipson said in a report in the science journal Nature on Wednesday.

He and his team believe the design principle could be used to make long term, self-repairing robots that could mend themselves and be used in hazardous situations and on space flights. The experimental robots, which do not do anything else except make copies of themselves, are powered through contacts on the surface of the table and transfer data through their faces. They self-replicate by using additional modules placed in special "feeding locations." The machines duplicate themselves by bending over and putting their top cube on the table. Then they bend again, pick up another cube, put it on top of the first and repeat the entire process. As the new robot begins to take shape it helps to build itself. "The four-module robot was able to construct a replica in 2.5 minutes by lifting and assembling cubes from the feeding locations," said Lipson.

Posted by Thineling Flomoper5900 2005-05-12 17:52|| || Front Page|| [11143 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Well, this looks like where I came in. Where's the cold boot on this planet?

Posted by Gawd 2005-05-12 19:04|| 2005-05-12 19:04|| Front Page Top

#2 Let me know when they mine the ore, drill for the oil and refine it and make the plastic and then make the modules. If I'm still alive, then I'll worry.

Posted by AlanC">AlanC 2005-05-12 19:52|| 2005-05-12 19:52|| Front Page Top

#3 As AlanC said...

Posted by twobyfour 2005-05-12 19:56|| 2005-05-12 19:56|| Front Page Top

#4 Shame on Lipson, Cornell, and Nature for trying to pass this off as either science or engineering. I'm a mechanical engineer and I declare this to be nothing but lame.

Posted by Tom 2005-05-12 20:07|| 2005-05-12 20:07|| Front Page Top

#5 Better inform the Asgard and Star Gate command.

Posted by AJackson 2005-05-12 20:45|| 2005-05-12 20:45|| Front Page Top

#6 Tom, since they pass a lot nowadays as science or engineering, I think we are looking at a systemic issue here.

Posted by twobyfour 2005-05-12 20:58|| 2005-05-12 20:58|| Front Page Top

#7 I swore this date I had the other night ended so badly she had to be a ....nevermind. She didn't follow the first order

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-05-12 21:37|| 2005-05-12 21:37|| Front Page Top

#8 Did she have plastic breath?

Posted by ;-) 2005-05-12 22:32|| 2005-05-12 22:32|| Front Page Top

#9 Call me when they have a self reproducing SheBot 2000.

Posted by mmurray821 2005-05-12 22:36|| 2005-05-12 22:36|| Front Page Top

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