This is the kind of show that intrigues us, excites us and, at the same time, worries us, considering the advances of robotics. Robots are already able to carry heavy loads, to move in very different places and to fight at complex games. Now, in the MIT offices, robots are assembled by a machine, from an almost universal set of parts.
Of mini-robots, to be precise. A team from the famous American institute has developed a machine that looks like a 3D printer and is able to create mechanisms of small size, but relatively autonomous and able to be assembled as needed.
And the machine created the machine
To achieve this result, Professor Neil Gershenfeld's idea is based on nature itself. Of the 22 types of amino acids that exist, 20 are found in all known living things. These amino acids are crucial because they help us "program": they manage the metabolism of cells and allow the body to build proteins. The idea of Gershenfeld is, therefore, the following: if you can create almost any living being from 20 amino acids, can we define "unavoidable " pieces, which will be systematically used in robotics?
Accompanied by his students, Neil Gershenfeld has previously shown that with families of small parts and all identical to each other, it was possible to make structures or machines with very diverse functionalities. Who said "Lego"?
Neil Gershenfeld then chose five mechanical parts recognized as fundamental: rigid or flexible parts, a magnet, and a coil. This material has been entrusted to a machine that is halfway between a 3D printer and an industrial assembly machine. With this equipment, the team managed to make a mini-robot who is able to move forward, backward and turn the wheels of another machine. Then, with these same materials, the team showed that it was possible to develop a mini-plane capable of transformation.
A new way of thinking robotics?
The common points with the most famous construction games are numerous. For example, the connectors between the different parts of the mini-robot are standardized. But more than a new kind of Lego, MIT suggests a new way of thinking about robotics products. According to the data transmitted to the machine, it can add wheels to the new robot. Tell him that he will have to be able to frequent rocky paths, and the machine will opt instead for legs, more adapted. It will be the same for the other characteristics of the robot, as the "equipment" of his arm or the load he can carry. MIT suggests that with only five pieces, any robot can be made.
The size will also be important: MIT's mini-robots provide solutions for work in confined or narrow places. " Some of our devices are smaller than a penny, yet they do very useful things, " says Neil Gershenfeld.
Ultimately, these new generations of robots could be classified into two categories: specialized machines, but expensive, or other less powerful, but versatile because reconfigurable. In this second case, can we actually modify a robot on the fly? The Lego of our childhood did it well ...
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