Shape-Shifting Robot Re-Assembles Itself, Will Chase Snotty Teens on Motorbikes One Day [Robots] |
| Published: April 29, 2008, 12:50 pm |
| Tags: clips, robots, self assembling, self repairing, self repairing robots, university of pennsylvania, videos |
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University of Pennsylvania roboticists—who talk like robot versions of Alan Alda—have developed modular artificial creatures capable of recomposing themselves in case they are destroyed—effectively taking the first step toward global annihilation, thank you very much. Happily for Humanity, they are far from T1000, and closer to Jerry Lewis, as the (quite funny, yet sad) end of the video shows. Composed of 15 modules arranged in groups of five, each of CKbot's clusters has a module with a 20fps camera, a blinking LED, and an accelerometer to reconstruct the entire robot, using magnets. The other 12 modules have an embedded computer, proximity sensors, and a servo motor that allows a rotational range of about 180 degrees. When the main mini-Voltron-wannabe gets destroyed and the clusters are disconnected, they self-right up themselves detecting its orientation according to gravity (don't keep looking like an idiot and start running now). Once they are on [ Full article ] |
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