Harvard and MIT Build A Robot That Can Build Itself

[unhappycamper]

http://www.boston.com/news/science/2014/08/08/harvard-and-mit-build-robot-that-can-build-itself/4SnvZXl1VgBLKyY5ZkN1UO/story.html



Harvard and MIT Build A Robot That Can Build Itself
By Megan Turchi
Boston.com Staff
August 8, 2014 8:45 PM

Robert Wood, the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard and member of the team that created the robot, said in an interview:

“Well, robots in general are complex mechanisms: They have articulation, some number of degrees of freedom, they must interact with the world. So we picked a robot not just because we work on robotics, but because they are traditionally difficult to make and control. In this case, it is just a four-legged robot whose body and mechanisms are assembled through this folding process.”

Well, that’s cool and all. But why is this important?

“Imagine a ream of dozens of robotic satellites sandwiched together so that they could be sent up to space and then assemble themselves remotely once they get there,” lead author Sam Felton, a doctoral student at the Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard told The Gazette. “They could take images, collect data, and more.”

[longship]

1. Next we should give them AI and killer knives.

Bring on the dystopic Matrix scenerio... Or is it Terminator? One can barely keep up with the movie SciFi nightmare narratives.

Pick your favorite.

[cstanleytech]

2. Well these robots could I guess give you a really bad paper cut.

Otherwise though overall its imo a big yawn as the robots didnt really build themselves as they dont have built in printers and even if they did paper isnt exactly the most durable product to use especially in wet environments.