New Technique For Mass-Producing Microbots Inspired By Origami 28
Zothecula writes "Inspired by origami and children's pop-up books, Harvard engineers have pioneered a means of mass-producing bee-sized flying microrobots. The breakthrough mechanizes the already state-of-the art process of making Harvard's Mobee robots by hand, by mass producing flat assemblies by the sheet which can be folded and assembled in a single movement. The technique, which cunningly exploits existing machinery for making printed circuit boards, can theoretically be applied to a multitude of electromechanical machines."
great but... (Score:-1, Offtopic)
Just how good is a bee that doesn't fly?
I had thousands of those in my garden last winter when my bee colony died. Nice breakfast for the robins is all they were still good for.
Or not (Score:-1)
This kind of bullshit technology is always featured here on fanboi central, but never turns into anything real.
Why don't we focus on what's really important and stop fucking around with these stupid stories?
Bullshit ? (Score:3)
This kind of bullshit technology is always featured here on fanboi central, but never turns into anything real.
Bullshit technology?
Never turns into anything real?
Who says it's bullshit? The thing may not be "useful" today, it does not mean the technology can not be adapted to do something very very useful in the future
Re:Bullshit ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Please don't feed the trolls.
Familiar pattern? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:1)
How about a little ricin? Or some very high grade explosive?
Honestly, why bother with nukes, bombers, aircraft carriers, rail guns etc, when you can simply drop a few canisters of these toys. But wait! Why bother identifing soldiers when you could simply set them to sting ever living being?
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:0)
So... Invest in bug-zapping lasers?
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:0)
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:0)
Thing bigger, just enclose your home in a Faraday cage. Something that size wont have a very large battery and/or memory. Then design the internals of your home so that they resemble a complex maze with several loops. If they work hard enough to get your data after that then they can have it...
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:1)
peeking through walls for IR signatures
Dude, not only are wallhacks against the rules, they are very n00bish. Please don't. Or you may be banned.
Re:Familiar pattern? (Score:2)
Or even better, you could build one of these factories into a robotic dog's head, attach it to Big Dog, and have the world's most perfect anti-intruder system.
One question. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:One question. (Score:3)
Not yet - http://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/research/body [harvard.edu]
Re:One question. (Score:1)
Does that thing fly? And if yes, how are it's flight characteristics?
The current "pop-up" book version was designed to prove the construction technique not really a flight weight vehicle. However a different prototype of theirs had first flight several years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1XA7klBiCA since then they have been working on improving other aspects of the vehicle, speed up manufacture, and rehttp://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/17/0335246/new-technique-for-mass-producing-microbots-inspired-by-origami#searching proper control laws to flight something like this stably.
Re:One question. (Score:0)
However a different prototype of theirs had first flight several years ago.
I'm not sure if the video is lacking, but my definition of flight doesn't include having rails to prevent all movement except vertical.
Skynet should produce more microbots (Score:0)
Why doesn't Skynet think of mass-producing microbots and nanobots? They would have a greater advantage against the humans.
They should also invest more CPU usage into developing bio-weapons. Machines can't get sick and they don't care about the Geneva nor the Hague conventions, because those only apply to those who sign them.
Construction Process (Score:3, Insightful)
An excellent video (and I do not use the term lightly) showing animations and video footage of the assembly of the Mobee...
echo^^
Harvard has filed numerous patent applications associated with the process, and is working with business to "identify disruptive applications in a range of industries."
While I'm sure there will be anti-patent people saying that since the process is "Inspired by origami and children's pop-up books" there's nothing novel or original in it, and prior art should invalidate their patents, for once I'm not sure I agree. I watched the video, and was inspired. Disruptive applications doesn't say the half of it!
Re:Construction Process (Score:2)
While I'm sure there will be anti-patent people saying that since the process is "Inspired by origami and children's pop-up books" there's nothing novel or original in it, and prior art should invalidate their patents, for once I'm not sure I agree.
I'm sure I disagree. This is novel and new and should be able to be patented. Everything novel and new comes from what came before, "shoulders of giants" and all that. All science, all technology, all art. Everything.
Wasn't it bad enough... (Score:2)
Re:Wasn't it bad enough... (Score:1)
Smarter for not making robot bees?
Re:Wasn't it bad enough... (Score:1)
for scheduling the EOTW (as we know it) at the moment of the technological singularity.
Re:Wasn't it bad enough... (Score:0)
They're smarter because their calendar was based on the zodiac signs?
MIT Origami (Score:2)
Hey I submitted this two days ago! (Score:3)
It was downmodded to oblivion in the "recent" section and the editors didn't post it! I guess people didn't like my nose joke, they're so picky!
wisebabo writes
"Until we have nano bot self replicators* this is a good way to make LOTS of tiny robots cheaply. It leverages our huge technological infrastructure in making 2D chips into 3D bots!
*I guess if you think viruses are nano bots then I guess we already know how to make them already. I was cooking up a batch in my nose just last week!"
Link to Original Source
Re:Hey I submitted this two days ago! (Score:1)
Synergies with printable technologies (Score:2)
Biomimetic Millisystems Lab (Score:2)
Berkeley is doing similarly cool stuff in their Biomimetic Millisystems Lab [berkeley.edu].
What about Lego ? (Score:1)
(Megafactories Lego)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxqhi-EWYEk&feature=player_embedded# [youtube.com]!
and it occurred to me that Lego is a very scalable and flexible model for Nanotech... with each element reusable.
There was a factoid, that just eight standard bricks can be reconfigure in millions of different ways...