These Robotic Cubes Are Like Real-Life Transformers That Could One Day Revolutionize Construction
YouTube
M-Blocks are remote-controlled robotic cubes with magnetic edges, and each one contains an orientable flywheel that spins inside the cube, enabling them to climb around on and stick to each other.
The flywheel (specifically called a "reaction wheel") can spin up to 20,000 revolutions per minute. When it comes to an abrupt stop, this heaves the block in the according direction. Low RPMs make for subtle navigation around a lattice of M-Blocks, as seen above. High RPMs lead to showy jumps, seen below.
Dylan Love
We spoke to John Romanishin, an assistant research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratories and one of the leads for M-Blocks (the M stands for "momentum"), who told us that while the project is still in its earliest stages, future iterations will be much more capable, eventually having a sense of awareness for each other and the shape they are a part of. This would make it a snap to put a bunch of blocks on the floor and tell them to combine into a specific shape.
The most interesting implication here seems to be in disaster relief - imagine thousands of M-Blocks working together to create a self-assembling bridge at the touch of a button. Alternatively, M-Blocks could make for a rapid scaffolding setup, even self-assembling furniture. It's comparable to real-life Transformers, or robot "molecules" that can constitute a much larger device than themselves.
Here's what an M-Block looks like on the inside:
Dylan Love
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- FSSAI in process of collecting pan-India samples of Nestle's Cerelac baby cereals: CEO
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance
- A surprise visit: Tesla CEO Elon Musk heads to China after deferring India visit
- Unemployment among Indian youth is high, but it is transient: RBI MPC member