Doing the robot

Tuesday 21 April

Put aside the moral ambiguities for a minute (you know the ones: are we creating self-sustaining killer robots that will eventually cause an apocalyptic nuclear holocaust, destroying all of mankind in the process?), and merely marvel at the unquestionable genius behind the latest modular robotics.

First, I went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to check out Frostbite – the seventh generation of robotic modular snake. Each module of Frostbite contains a standard servo motor, but it’s the software that the designers have come up with that creates the magic. That allows each module to interact with their surroundings, permitting Frostbite to climb, slither, and just move around in areas that man would be unable to. The possibilities are endless.

The second modular robot I saw was at Pennsylvania Univerity. A bit like Wolverine, or a very early version of the T-1000 in Terminator 2, this modular robot has the ability to fix itself. Assume the robot modules become separated, I don’t know, perhaps via a size 10 boot attached to my foot. Each module contains an LED that blinks and ‘chats’ to the other modules. They then calculate their relative proximity and start moving towards each other, before putting themselves back together using magnets.

It’s awesome. But thankfully, we’re still a way off bullet-absorbing Robert Patrick-alike robots running around looking for John Connors.