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Researchers have developed small robots that can work together as a collective that changes shape and even chemise between solid and “ fluid - corresponding ” states — a conception that should be conversant to anyone still haunted by incubus of theT-1000 robotic assassinfrom “ Terminator 2 . ”
A squad led by Matthew Devlin of UC Santa Barbara described this work ina paper recently published in Science , writing that the vision of “ cohesive collectives of automatic social unit that can arrange into nigh any form with any physical properties … has long intrigued both scientific discipline and fiction . ”
Otger Campàs , a prof at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics , order Ars Technicathat the squad was enliven by tissues in conceptus to try and design automaton with similar capabilities . These golem have motorized gearing that permit them to move around within the collective , attraction so they can stay attached , and photodetectors that permit them to pick up command from a flashlight with a polarization filter .
Campàs pronounce reality stay “ far from the Terminator thing , ” with size of it and world power challenges stay . The researchers ’ robots were slightly more than 5 centimeter in diameter , though the goal is to get them down to 1 or 2 centimeters , or even smaller .
