Full Text: Oy, Robot!

Now, how does this relate to the question before us? "Will robots take over the planet?" The hard version of nano-technology posits small robots that self-reproduce and then get out of hand and turn the world into "grey goo." But this form of nanotechnology tries to mimic the macro scale machines that we have at the atomic level and there is no evidence (yet) that such machines will work. Instead I think it is much more likely that very small, atomic scale, robots will have bodies that are very different from our macro scale robots, and most likely will be held together with a form of tensegrity. So I think that most of today's research on multi-module robots will not be the direction that is ultimately taken as a practical matter. Bodies matter, as that is where physics gets to play its role.

I think that the way forward will see a merger of biological materials and robotics. Already people are putting mechanical systems inside their bodies, ranging from simple joint replacements to complex devices interfacing to their neurons, such as in cochlear implants for people who go deaf due to cochlear damage. On the other side, at our lab Tom Knight is building microbial robots, where he splices standard "parts" into a DNA string, so that the normal RNA transcription mechanism effectively allows a program to have digital control over protein production inside the cell. His "robots," based on E. Coli as their chassis, can communicate with each other, move about, signal the outside world, and sense their environments. And he can build a million million of them overnight. Green goo, not grey goo!

Lund: Yes, the ATRON modules distinguish themselves from other such modular robots by the very strong connections, which make it feasible to make practical applications. A number of other systems have shown the concept of self-reconfiguration, but often had practical problems with weak connections (e.g. based on different magnetic systems), and hence scaling-up problems. The ATRON modules are modeled from the oxygen atoms ReO3 connections, which give point-to-point connections, but with a mechanical emulation of surface-to-surface connection in three points, we achieve very strong connections. Therefore, it now seems to become feasible to make practical applications with self-reconfigurable robots. At the same time, we can make the shape transformations at a speed that makes it possible to use this capability in real world applications. Also for other modular robotic systems for practical applications such as the playware playgrounds, the African I-BLOCKS, and Light & Sound Cylinders for elderly with dementia, we see the importance of the connection system, which always is a major challenge, even when the users perform the reconfigurations. This is the case for practical applications of today.

But where do we go in future? I agree with you Rod that the bio-inspired approach will play a huge role in future, and that, for example, the development of new "soft" material for robotics will be one of the largest revolutions seen in robotics. With new bio-materials and units on a much smaller scale, there will be new control challenges that further enhance the importance of understanding the relationship between control, morphology, material, elasticity, energy use, etc. At some point, we will be able to create soft robots with much more flexible bodies than those "metallic" robots that most people think of today. I think that the understanding of the right balance between these defining components of the robot behavior, and hence also the optimization of material and energy use is amongst the greatest research challenges in robotics, in order for us to create soft robots.