Researches Invented Insect-Sized Robots That Can Swarm Together And Build Just About Anything
Research and development lab SRI International has developed small robots steered by magnetic fields that can go nearly anywhere, and when they work together in large numbers, they can build all kinds of things.
SRI calls the technology Diamagnetic Micro Manipulation, or DM3, and its implications for autonomous manufacturing could be huge.
First, a demonstration of how nimble these things are:
Because the robots are propelled entirely with electromagnets, they can move in ways that other robots certainly could not:
Here's one assembling a truss structure out of rods and glue.
While SRI's video currently only demonstrates this truss construction, these bots can be used for a number of other applications, especially as they're improved over time. The company writes that "our 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."
In other words, small robots like these could cooperate en masse to rapidly build prototypes, small electronics, even custom circuit boards. The company predicts installing them in a mobile robotic base, effectively creating "a micro-factory [that] will be able to build parts of practically any size."
SRI adds that they could eventually be used for military and space applications - since they depend entirely upon magnets, not gravity, to move from place to place, these little things could perhaps one day build and repair things in outer space.
Check out the full video demo below: