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Self-Healing Robots of Doom From UPenn

Posted by timothy on Thu May 01, 2008 12:30 PM
from the just-a-bit-freaky dept.
Robotics Science
OshMan writes "University of Pennsylvania's ModLab is doing some interesting stuff with modular robots. In this case involving absolutely no weapons! An example clip on YouTube shows one of their cluster robots re-assembling itself after being kicked apart. For more information about the program check out their site. So let the Borg and Terminator jokes begin!"
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Submission: Self Healing Robots of Doom! by OshMan (1246516)
[+] Science: Self-Healing System Applied to Aviation 76 comments
ScienceDaily is reporting that the self-healing materials are being used in some new aircraft designs. We covered several self-healing systems in the past months, but it is nice to see it starting to find practical applications. "This simple but ingenious technique, similar to the bruising and bleeding/healing processes we see after we cut ourselves, has been developed by aerospace engineers at Bristol University, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It has potential to be applied wherever fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are used. These lightweight, high-performance materials are proving increasingly popular not only in aircraft but also in car, wind turbine and even spacecraft manufacture. The new self-repair system could therefore have an impact in all these fields."
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  • Robots made out of little pieces that assemble themselves. And we don't even have the Asgard to bail us out.

    Or at least, I don't think we do.

    Rob
    • It's an interesting trick, no doubt. The trouble is that this is like looking at the technology to mark bad sectors on a disk as something on it's own.

      When you can teach this to Mars rovers to replace worn parts/systems from a rescue/resupply lander then it's something to yell about. Even better, send up a robot that can repair/upgrade/improve the Hubble Space Telescope for 1/10th the cost of a human mission and you have something REALLY cool.

      This is just a first step in that direction, and a good one.
      • No... when you can teach these things to assemble into a 50 Mars Rovers, trundle across the desert, then have the lot of them reconfigure themselves into a Hubble Telescope, THAT is when it will be something to yell about.

        • No... when you can teach these things to assemble into a 50 Mars Rovers, trundle across the desert, then have the lot of them reconfigure themselves into a Hubble Telescope, THAT is when it will be something to yell about.

          No... when you can teach these things to assemble into 2500 Mars Rovers, trundle across the desert, then have the lot of them reconfigure themselves into 50 Hubble Telescopes, THAT is when it will be something to yell about.
        • I occassionally wonder if we /.ers don't set our sites a bit high. (No, this isn't why we, collectively, can't find women.)

    • Robots made out of little pieces that assemble themselves. And we don't even have the Asgard to bail us out.

      It was SG-1 that kept bailing us (AND the Asgard, for what it's worth), remember?

      • But the Asgard were needed so O'Neill could invent that anti-Replicator gun. I guess I should've said that the Asgard and the Ancients bailed us out.

        Rob
  • So let the Borg and Terminator jokes begin!

    I think not, but I hear that in Soviet Russia, robots re-assemble you.

  • I love it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Raistlin77 (754120) on Thursday May 01 2008, @12:38PM (#23265614)
    The 3 modules spend all that time trying to reassemble after being kicked apart, only to stand up, fall over, and break apart again. Brilliant!

  • I for one... (Score:4, Funny)

    by FriendSite.com (1208220) on Thursday May 01 2008, @12:38PM (#23265624) Homepage
    I for one welcome our Rubix Cube overlords ;-)
  • Just Borg and Terminator jokes?

    What about our self-assembling robotic overlords? I'm certain they will be displeased about being excluded!
  • I love it. At the end of the video when the robot has just about reassembled itself, the narrator says the robot will complete its task. The robot then promptly falls over. :-)

  • Jokes aside (Score:5, Funny)

    by mlwmohawk (801821) on Thursday May 01 2008, @12:45PM (#23265720)
    This is an interesting development and one which does slightly worry me.

    I don't believe in real machine intelligence just yet, but a device that can re-assemble itself after being dis-assembled is a horrible idea.

    First it was the "power switch," most computers don't have a power switch. You have to physically unplug them to be sure. Now, they'll put themselves back together, after you take them apart.

    Imagine this in the hands of Microsoft, perhaps a computer will re-install Windows after you've installed Linux? (Functionality in the BIOS of course, BIOS code notices Windows has not called the deadman API recently after power-up. BIOS takes over, DHCP the ethernet card, nuke the hard disk and re-install Windows from the net.)

    Leave a room of happy Linux machines, return with a miserable set of windows boxes.

    • First it was the "power switch," most computers don't have a power switch. You have to physically unplug them to be sure. Now, they'll put themselves back together, after you take them apart.


      I don't know where you get your computers from, but, except for my laptop, all my computers have, in addition to the soft power button on the front, a rocker switch on the back that is part of the power supply. You flip that switch off, and the computer is *off*.
      • none of the three hundred servers we just imaged for a new datacenter have hard power switches. The only way to remove power without the aid of a bios is by removing the power cable.
      • but that is still bios-dependent, which == still software dependent. which, according to the def presented by the original post, means it's not a "real" power switch, because if the computer software chooses to ignore your power-off command, it can.
          • Ok, this was all in response to a joke, but the GP's point stands. That "hold the button for 8 seconds" trick is controlled by the BIOS. That's a software component. In many (most?) BIOS's you can disable that functionality altogether, or change it to instant-off, or what not. Also, the machine still can turn itself back on via a scheduled timer, Wake on LAN, or any other number of software based devices. The simple fact is that that was NOT a power switch that you hit to turn it off. It was a button t
      • In my computers it's always been 8 seconds, not 15, but frequently it fails and won't turn the computer off after any amount of time. It's not a hard switch - it's a gentle request.

        On the other hand, you can always just go around to the back of your computer and flip the hard switch on your power supply.
      • I Do work for IT, and I'm not confused.

        Few ATX type computers being produced have a real "power" switch. They have a function button that tells the computer to shut it self mostly down, but power continues to be fed to the system even after shutdown. Even the shutdown is a voluntary step.

        The very fact that you can hold down the power function button (for around 10 or 15 seconds) and that will initiate a BIOS function to shut down the system means that BIOS code *can* take over if the system is designed to
  • You know while on the surface this sounds funny, I can't help but think that this technology combined with attempts of AI research, could possibly just lead to a Borg / Replicator / Terminator situation.

    Ok, I could just go back to my statistics homework now...
  • A Borg, a Terminator, and Robocop walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, "Is this some kind of a joke?"

    • Re:In other news... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Starteck81 (917280) on Thursday May 01 2008, @01:03PM (#23265986)

      A Borg, a Terminator, and Robocop walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, "Is this some kind of a joke?"

      I don't know, is it? Cause you're in desperate need of a punchline.
  • After watching the video, I am quite assured the coming apocalypse will preventable as long as I remember kick my mechanical oppressor in the nads every 20 minutes or so.

    (Seriously though, it's impressive :))
  • I am a cyborg, [slashdot.org] you insensitive clod!

    You will be assimilated. Resistance is not only futile, but when it's your turn you will beg to join us.

  • Roundabout solution (Score:3, Funny)

    by Sentry21 (8183) on Thursday May 01 2008, @01:01PM (#23265960) Journal
    I don't get it. Why don't they just make them out of liquid metal? Then they can survive all kinds of things, AND go on killing sprees to eliminate John Connor. Is this not obvious to anyone else?
  • That explains why all of my e-mails and phone calls to the engineering school have gone unanswered lately!

  • Finally, something powerful enough to stop George Washington [youtube.com]! I hope these things are hardened against radiation too, cause that's what he and his thirty god damn dicks are made out of.

  • obFuturama (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rob T Firefly (844560) on Thursday May 01 2008, @01:33PM (#23266346) Homepage Journal
    Bender's arms break off. With his left arm he reattaches his right arm, with which he reattaches his left arm.

    Fry: I don't know how you did that.
  • Just a simple "No Disassemble! No Disassemble! No. 5 is alive!"
    • Running on PICs -

      CAN-BUS, local IR
      I would suspect at least given size and the CAN-BUS I would say no OS to speak of, as it appears that the code is done in C# with MatLAB as a compiler.
    • You mean the robot that can turn into a tentacle waving giant gun toting creature? that's not scary~
    • Funny part is, they seem to act more like Replicator blocks than anything from StarTrek or the Terminator series of movies.

      I for one am still waitting on my personalized Repli-Carter.

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