Description

Researchers at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms are working on an ambitious project that allows robots to build their own. Although the team says they are still a few years away from achieving this goal, they have shown that their efforts have had positive results.

The central part of the project includes waxels that can carry power and data shared between different parts,TechCrunch reported. These components form the structural basis of robots and receive and connect the waxes they need before going to other parts of the network and assembling the rest of the parts. The term Voxel is derived from computer graphics.

"Our approach challenges the rule that the production of larger products requires larger devices and can be applied in areas that either today require significant investment for fixed infrastructure or are generally unusable," the scientists said in a paper published in the journalNature.

Robots can create their own
Developing a suitable level of intelligence for these systems is a major obstacle. For example, it should be clear how and where robots are producing, when they start doing this, and how they should avoid colliding with each other while doing so.

"When we build these structures, we have to create intelligent creation," says co-author Neil Gershenfeld. Our idea was to use "structural electronics", i.e. to build waxels that could power, data and transfer power, however, the hardware problem still exists. Researchers are trying to build better interfaces to keep waxes connected.

Scientists say when the project is finished, its application will be clear. This robot can help save time by helping the process of achieving the best form of production of a product. NASA and the U.S. Military Research Laboratory have contributed funding to the project.