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Grey goo, anyone? Scientists create robotic cubes that can reproduce
Researchers at Cornell University in New York have created robotic cubes that can create copies of themselves in under three minutes which, surprisingly, the scientists purport are simple machines. Self-replicating robots are simple? That's because that's all the cubes do — at the moment. They could easily be outfitted with tools for specific tasks, the researchers say. The application for a machine that could reconstruct a copy of itself — reproduce, if you will — or repair itself with limited materials are nearly endless.
Medical nanomachines could be injected into the body and construct a surgical tool without having to open up a patient. Robots sent into space to other planets could repair themselves or even build a troop of explorers once they touchdown. Manufacturing costs would lower as construction robots could replicate both themselves and products. That's the plan, anyway.
So when will we be propelled into this glorious future (and come one step closer to having to fend off relentless, self-replicating robots such as Stargate's Replicators, pictured above)? Nailing down the process of reproducing robots in only one step in a larger puzzle, as scientists still need to figure out how to apply the 'bots effectively.
By Deathbringer at 4:24 PM ON 03/20/09
Bad idea, but maybe I watch to much Stargate.
By Old Man Dotes at 4:42 PM ON 03/20/09
Good idea, but it's more important to force the building-in of the Three Laws of Robotics before we go much further.
By scifipredict at 9:21 PM ON 03/20/09
Wait until 2060. Looking at what we have now, imagine the technology then. If were not careful, things will get out of hand. It's seems each day our world becomes more like a giant science fiction movie.
By suberbunny2019 at 12:39 PM ON 03/21/09
mmmm replicators ......maybe I to watch to much stargate
By Brass orchid at 3:17 PM ON 03/21/09
Great. Now I'll have Stone Temple Pilots' Flies in the Vaseline in my head all day.
By Tim at 5:24 PM ON 03/21/09
Too much thought into the negative implications and not enough hope for future positives. Cure for aids? The next step in human robotics? Spinal, etc.?
By vd00d at 11:25 PM ON 03/21/09
Only thing this article fails to mention is by "self replicating" they mean is a bunch of pre-built cubes can stick together to form larger constructs, and if you have enough of these pre-built cubes around, they can re-attach to each other to make more then one identical large construct. They can't actually collect raw resources and build more of themselves. Kind of how lego's are self-replicating because if you have enough blocks you can put together multiple copies of the same model, but said blocks can't make more blocks.
By makmegs at 4:29 AM ON 03/22/09
the thought of having "replicators" on our planet yet alone another solar system doesn't seem like a smart idea
P.s yes i watch too much stargate
By Jeyaraj at 5:56 AM ON 03/22/09
Good Idea I think.
By Anonymous at 6:19 AM ON 03/23/09
I watch to much stargate and movies, and the three laws of robotics didn't work to well in 'I Robot'
By Lexomatic at 8:37 AM ON 03/23/09
@Vd00d: Quite. This is more properly called an incremental advance in "self-repairing modular macroscale robotics." Ironically for DVICE's chosen picture, this is something "Stargate's" Replicators *don't* do. Once a bug is fragmented, the individual blocks don't reassemble.
And it's not even a *recent* advance -- the National Geographic article DVICE cites is from 2005, *four years ago*. For more recent work at Cornell, see (http://216.139.212.17/mae/ccsl/research/index.htm).
Also, I will now utter a plaintive recurrent lament about the difference between the words "to" and "too."
By Al at 11:33 AM ON 03/25/09
Hey, I'd love to have a computer that could repair itself or any part that broke down over time.
As for the three laws, if we don't follow them, odds are any AI we create will not be bound either.
Here's hoping they're benevolent rulers.
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Al:
Hey, I'd love to have a computer that could repair itself or any part that broke down over time. As for the three ...More »