Developing Small Self-Building Robots

Seems like programmable itemcould be at the heart of Earth’s future. Imagine if thousands of nanobots were assembled and disassembled on command to create the most efficient shape for ascension into orbit, creating a vehicle or a table and chair for astronauts to study an asteroid… Frankly, even knowing that such a possibility exists is itself a source of excitement. more than enough can be said to be.

And this may be possible thanks to a few MIT students. According to new information, a group of MIT students are working to control and move microbots. invent new ways works with a team to The results of the study are very positive about the technologies of the future. hope presents a comprehensive approach.

Can play an important role in space studies

Martin Nisser, a doctoral student at MIT, who was one of the students working with the team, in a sense “a kind of recyclable 3D printing” expresses what they want to create. ElectroVoxel While this invention, called (voxels = volumetric pixels), is still in testing, Nisser notes that he has found a new way that allows ElectroVoxels to reconfigure themselves quickly and economically.

During a podcast he attended “One of the biggest challenges with rebuildable robots is that if you want each of these small modules to be able to move on their own, you have to put computation, electronic sensors, actuators in each module, and modules are increasingly the smaller it’s really hard to do that,” Nisser, who included his statements, “The main technical contribution we have developed is to find a way to embed electromagnets into these modules to perform the reconfiguration…which is good, because these electromagnets are really very it is cheapthey are easily produced and do not require much maintenance.” he continues.

Approximately six centimeters embedded in each of the 12 edges of existing prototypes that are long electromagnets exists. With the addition of a microcontroller and integrated circuits that allow to regulate the direction of the current flowing through the electromagnets, it is possible for ElectroVoxels to attract or repel each other in ways complex enough to cause them to spin around a shared axis and cross across the face of another ElectroVoxel.

ElectroVoxels move a little too slow for now

However, MIT says that current shape-shifting modular robots are relatively cumbersome says it is. Accordingly, modular robots are slow because they are built with large, expensive motors to facilitate mobility. Regarding this issue, Nisser, “If each of these cubes can rotate relative to its neighbors, you can actually reconstruct your initial 3D structure into any other arbitrary 3D structure” saves as. This is for non-standard instruments, to rearrange mass to create rotational motions to initiate a kind of artificial gravity via centrifugal force, or to come between you and a dangerous solar flare. to place mass It can be very useful for

The fact that ElectroVoxels are relatively large for now means that any structure they will create is quite rough and grainy means it will. This means that Nisser and his team are working on making them truly usable. downsizing needs. However, it is stated that in the future, some modules will be able to carry a number of vehicles and tools, while some will store power in batteries, while others will capture energy with solar panels. Of course, a lot of work needs to be done for all of this to happen.

However, this invention may still be used in the future, especially where it is impossible for us to order a spare part and receive it tomorrow. in spaceDoesn’t change the fact that it can have a lifesaving place. Nissen stated that space is the last limit of fabrication and it is extremely difficult to build something there. “So if you can do your own assemblies without having to send the astronauts there – which is very dangerous – and without having to send everything in one go, that’s really good. it is advantageous. And, somewhat paradoxically, while reconfiguration is a very advantageous environment, reconfiguration is actually a lot simpler in a way… because in a microgravity environment, you don’t have to fight gravity vectors.” uses expressions.

A video showing the state of the project was also shared before: