Micro Robots

in robotics on 2014-04-17 09:51 (#3J0)

What's cooler than a robot? A micro-robot. What's cooler than that? A swarm of them , organizing effortlessly, like ants, to accomplish complicated tasks in parallel and on a small scale, like the manufacture of circuit boards or other products, and dealing effortlessly with both solids and liquids. Sound interesting? It does to SRI International , who has developed and patented a technology called Diamagnetic Micro Manipulation (DM3).

It uses "printed circuit boards to drive and control micro-robots built from simple, low-cost magnets that are propelled electromagnetically. This could enable cost-effective production of large numbers of micro-robots that can reliably handle a wide variety of solid and liquid materials - including electronics. ... [Their] vision is to enable an assembly head containing thousands of micro-robots to manufacture high-quality macro-scale products while providing millimeter-scale structural control. For example, some micro-robots will carry components (electronic as well as mechanical, such as truss elements), some micro-robots will deposit liquids, and others will perform in situ quality analysis. Mounted to a mobile robotic base, a micro-factory will be able to build parts of practically any size."

Have a look at their statement on an ongoing DARPA Open Manufacturing proposition for Microfactories for smart manufacturing . These scare me more than Big-Dog . Lets hope they can never self replicate and swarm by the millions .

Manufacturing (Score: 2, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-04-17 16:01 (#13V)

I can imagine this revolutionizing manufacturing, but I think history shows most revolutions were unforeseen. So this team will invent a cool, swarming micro-robot technology, and then some other team will find some extraordinary use for it, like heart surgery or something. Then the mafia and drug lords will find some new use for it that will be unethical and vaguely horrifying. This has potential way beyond just circuit boards. Stick a microphone on one of these things and send it into your competitor's HVAC system? That's just the start!

Always thought I'd be looking up when the robot wars begin. Might actually be looking down, as they pool around my feet.

Re: Manufacturing (Score: 1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-04-17 17:23 (#13Z)

This is an almost luddite approach to technology. Yes, most (if not all) of it can be used for nefarious purposes. But you can't limit technology because it *may* be used for evil. Let's consider something simple, like a cell phone charger. You can swing it around and hurt people. You can use it to strangle people. You can use it to tie up people. You can make a trip wire with it. With enough dedication, you could wrap it around a pipe and make a coil gun out of it. The list of evil things that can be done with a cell phone charger is very long. Does that mean we should outlaw cell phone chargers? The answer is obviously no. The same goes for all other technology.

Re: Manufacturing (Score: 1)

by rocks@pipedot.org on 2014-04-19 15:49 (#14M)

...and lets not forget that you can use it to charge phones... which has its own problems...

like people phoning and texting you all the time until you develop mental disorders...
or cell phone use in cars and numerous deaths due to distracted driving...

I'm scared to learn what uses you would come up with for a bean bag? :)