
MIT inventor creates cube robots with no external moving parts - Libertatea
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mit-inventor-unleashes-hundreds-of-self-assembling-cube-swarmbots
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timje1
-"The MIT researchers are currently building an army of 100 cubes"

Hardly "unleashes hundreds of swarmbots", more like unleashes eight of them,
and plans to release more .. Quite a misleading article title.

 _edit: I 'm not complaining about the HN title, which is just taken from the
article. I'm pointing out that the actual article title, which states that
hundreds of these bots have been unleashed (lie, it's about eight) and that
they self assemble (lie, they require direct instruction) is misleading... _

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webjprgm
It encourages you to imagine what these things can be good for, therefore get
excited about even just this small progress.

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jlgreco
It encourages me to be disappointed when I actually read the article, which is
not exactly the best state to put me in if you want me to appreciate your
article.

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jdmitch
From the video at the bottom _" We found out by accident that they were able
to jump, we weren't intending for them to do that..."_

Maybe the Terminator comparisons were all too prescient...

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jackmaney
"We also found out that they were able to extend spikes from their bodies. We
don't know how they--urrrrrrk!"

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midhir
Mistook self-assembling for self-replicating and became unduly alarmed.

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yoshokatana
Same. I really, really hope no researcher/terrorist/researcher-terrorist
releases some kind of grey goo in the next hundred years. That sounds like a
terrible way to die.

~~~
derekp7
We already have something similar covering the planet -- except most of it is
green. Some of it is gray though.

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danso
Jesus, this is blatant blogspam. The OP is much more interesting and has more
detail: [http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-
as...](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-assembling-
robots-1004.html)

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ck2
Tiny bit too breathless and too much hype.

I've seen children's toys that used internal momentum via a counterweight back
in the 80s.

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blaze33
Well, I don't know about terminators or replicators but they could do a self-
solving rubik's cube once they'll have built 26 of these blocks.

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wtvanhest
What does everyone think about energy use and storage? Are magnetic devices
energy efficient enough for this to work some day?

Maybe they could attach them to an external power supply?

Seems like it could be a constraint that needs to be solved for this to be
useful

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kbutler
Energy use seemed like a significant issue - how many flywheel spinups do you
get out of a battery?

They could include a charging circuit that routes power through the assembled
blocks. Each unit would still require it's own independent power for
disconnected motion, but they could recharge when connected.

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GeorgeOrr
These would be perfect office desk toys. Right up until they combine and take
over the office of course.

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th0br0
Esp. their design reminds me rather of Stargate's good old Replicators than
Terminator ;)

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chii
The replicators were worse than the terminators....

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bargl
I think these robots are missing a few things that would make it actually
useful. They need a latching mechanism to increase strength when they are in
position. And they need a manipulator that can bend while locked onto two
other cubes.

When I see these I think of a flexible exoskeleton or simulated bones. They
are missing what would be the cartilage and muscle of a moving being. But who
knows this could be a great step in that direction.

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Someone
A step, indeed; this is research, it need not be actually useful. The things
you mention, I can see as "left as an exercise for the reader".

I am more worried about power efficiency. Corrections welcome, but I think
accelerating and (rapidly, in many cases) decelerating a flywheel can't be
that efficient. Also, I don't see how those flywheels could efficiently move a
large assembly of these things. Let's say you have a 5x5x5 cube: how would
they work together to move that? Fall apart and reassemble?

~~~
bargl
I actually think that spinning up a momentum wheel is fairly low energy, but
it's been a long time since we did that.

Like I said, if they locked together you could get movement from a huge cube.
But I think the key in these guys is to build dynamic rigid bodies and have
"joints" that move around to connect them and help them actuate. That'd be
awesome.

They could also snake along the ground doing a chain where one goes from the
back to the front, then the next and so on. Anyway, pretty cool idea to start
from. I can't wait to see if they iterate this and add cameras and a main
controller or anything like that!

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kubiiii
I'm pretty sure I have read of a similar self assembling cubes concept in a
science magazine when I was a kid (i.e. 20 years ago). The concept was only
rendered in 3D (which was a piece of cake even then for it was only cubes).
Pretty neat to see that come to reality.

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columbo
Scaled down to 1/1000th of it's current size and that would be an interesting
way to perform complex operations, like brain surgery. No more cutting in a
straight line, instead you can move around objects. Though by that time we'd
probably have little self-propelled nano-bots doing this work more
efficiently.

Dynamic stabilization would be interesting. This could "fill" in an area, say
the sudden damage to a building, perhaps even a space station or spaceship.

Movement could be another feature. This could serve as wheels to move over
complex terrain (up mountains, through the bottom of the ocean). They could go
from fins, to wheels, to little hands or claws, etc...

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tomrod
How would the robot be able to maintain coherence at such a small size?

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blueskittle
This technology has improved nicely over the years. For comparison, here are
some similar swarm bots from 2005:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGqyO32pv4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGqyO32pv4)

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joeblau
The first thing I thought about when I watched the video is T-1000.

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lumberjack
>The experts said it couldn’t be done. But research scientist John Romanishin
of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has
created M-Blocks — cube robots with no external moving parts.

I doubt that the experts were thinking about 1cm blocks when they passed their
judgment.

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watty
I have to admit I was extremely disappointed with the video after reading the
title. 8 cubes with motors that can move via radio commands? Astonishing...

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drcode
Agreed, but give them credit for building something new that arguably fits
under "basic science" and might have unexpected applications in the future.
For instance, I could imagine a system like this for reconfiguring parts of a
satellite after it has been launched into space.

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poweribo
Perry the platypus needs nip this on the bud

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tomrod
As one with kids that love Phineas and Ferb: Thank you.

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touristtam
seem to be an interesting thing. Yes the article is of somewhat lesser quality
than the MIT own, but Thank you for post it never-the-less. I'd hope they will
try to open a bit their project, so technically like minded people will be
able to contribute. :)

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dhimes
I bet the results would be fascinating if we could apply some cellular
automata rules to these.

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dexen
I, for one, welcome our new Grey Goo [1] Overlords ;-)

Let's just hope those don't develop self-preservation instinct anytime near
soon.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo)

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chrisrhoden
Different kind of self-assembling.

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molsongolden
Michael Crichton's book Prey might not be too far off.

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a3voices
>We want hundreds of cubes, scattered randomly across the floor, to be able to
identify each other, coalesce, and autonomously transform into a chair, or a
ladder, or a desk, on demand

Sounds interesting. But when will I get a robot to cook my meals, clean my
apartment, and do my laundry?

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MichaelAO
Microwave oven, vacuum cleaner (Roomba), and washing machine :)

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simias
It's very cool and very clever from a hacking and engineering standpoint but I
don't see what they're aiming for.

It seems they want to make groups of cubes that can autonomously reconfigure
themselves, but what will they do once they get that? What task could they
achieve?

I guess it could make a fun toy but I can't think of anything else.

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Matti
"But the researchers believe that a more refined version of their system could
prove useful even at something like its current scale. Armies of mobile cubes
could temporarily repair bridges or buildings during emergencies, or raise and
reconfigure scaffolding for building projects. They could assemble into
different types of furniture or heavy equipment as needed. And they could
swarm into environments hostile or inaccessible to humans, diagnose problems,
and reorganize themselves to provide solutions."
[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-
as...](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-assembling-
robots-1004.html)

