One thing that separates the biological world from the non-biological is its ability to reproduce. All organisms reproduce in some fashion. Now scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York have created a robot that can replicate itself in minutes :). If perfected, the technique could lead to the creation of swarms of robots, with little or no input from the scientists. Once that happens, small errors in reproduction, and a drive similar to the survival of the fittest in biological evolution, might lead to better and smarter robots!
Assembling robots (Courtesy: National Geographic)
Each cube is programmed with certain building instructions, such as contact and release events. Starting with a single robot, it can seek out other such cubes and construct a replica of itself. This process can go on forever, as long as there are cubes left! However, given enough cubes, the robots might be able to reconfigure the cubes into new forms, and hence technically new robot-forms. Different cubes can also have different functionalities, for example, some could be equipped with digging tools, others with lifting tools, and so on. This will be interesting, say, for lunar missions, where depending upon the task at hand, the robots can reconfigure themselves!
The Cornell robot is just a proof-of-concept. More research is of course required. And hopefully, we wont have a breed of super-robots desperate to eliminate us humans from this planet :D:D.
Assembling robots (Courtesy: National Geographic)
Each cube is programmed with certain building instructions, such as contact and release events. Starting with a single robot, it can seek out other such cubes and construct a replica of itself. This process can go on forever, as long as there are cubes left! However, given enough cubes, the robots might be able to reconfigure the cubes into new forms, and hence technically new robot-forms. Different cubes can also have different functionalities, for example, some could be equipped with digging tools, others with lifting tools, and so on. This will be interesting, say, for lunar missions, where depending upon the task at hand, the robots can reconfigure themselves!
The Cornell robot is just a proof-of-concept. More research is of course required. And hopefully, we wont have a breed of super-robots desperate to eliminate us humans from this planet :D:D.
Reproducing Robots
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11 Comments:
At least until a week next Tuesday ;-)
This is fascinating stuff. I always wonder however, just how much the programming directs the reproduction (i.e. if it's too intrusive then spontenaity can be negligible).
Gindy: Again, if you read my comment to Onkroes, we are not at that stage yet. But in another couple of decades, with advances in biotech and nanotech and robotics... hmm, you get the idea!
The day will come,we might not be there but then it sure will come one day:)
If these bots get to the nano scale, we could create artificial life. In fact they havve already artificially synthesised a few viruses(without nanotech). And do we call these as machines or not?
Sudhir: There is a difference. We can replace all parts of our body with artificial parts, but as long as our brain is still ours, we are still we.
The viruses are created by resynthesizing the genetic code of existing viruses. So it is a replication, not a new creation. But yes, in a few years, we might be able to create one from scratch, and that could very well be dangerous.
There are a lot of (otherwise perfectly rational) people who would disagree! I agree with you though.
I think one of the key drivers for robotic technology lies in space exploration. The human body is just too frail and needy to withstand wandering around off-and-on-planet for too long. Add in some artificial intelligence and it could help the human race expand enormously - on the other hand, if the robots are intelligent, then who are they exploring for, and how long would that 'slavery' last? It's a sobering thought that many of Arthur C Clarke's stories may be a lot closer to a real future than we all thought when we read them the first time.
Lucretia: :)).. I think these things might be in the market soon, as playthings! So perhaps you can get one then :D.
will be goin on a trip so will have to miss your posts for more than a month:( hope to catch up with them when i come back.
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Congrats on the 100th post:)
Thanks for the congrats :):). Hope I can continue writing this blog.....
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