Robotic Nanotech Swarms on Mars... in 2034

Roland Piquepaille writes "NASA is testing a shape-shifting robot called 'TETwalker' for tetrahedral walker, because it looks like a flexible pyramid. It has been tested in the lab and at the McMurdo station in Antarctica to test it under conditions more like those on Mars. Now, it is on the way to be -- really -- miniaturized by using micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems. These robots will eventually join together to form 'autonomous nanotechnology swarms' (ANTS). When it's done, in about thirty years, these nanotech swarms will 'alter their shape to flow over rocky terrain or to create useful structures like communications antennae and solar sails.' So in 2034, nanotechnology will land on Mars. Read more for other details and references about the TETwalker and the ANTS project."

Comments

Crichton - "Prey"

[kencurry]

Eventually, swarm turns evil in typical crichton fashion. Still, a pretty decent read.

So lets see what happens ...

[DARKFORCE123]

We send small robots to Mars that can form a larger more complex machine.

Time goes by and we forget we ever tried this experiment and give up on Mars because our society suffers some calamity.

A 100 years later a huge fleet of warships from Mars controlled by a huge artificial AI comes back to Earth and obliterates it.

Sounds Good!

Movie Link

[Anonymous Coward]

Took some digging.

Reproduction?

[pomegranatesix]

Will they have the ability to reproduce themselves?

After the initial exploring and scientific investigations - we could have other uses for the nanobots.

It'd be pretty cool if they could spread all over Mars and begin terraforming.

We could have different "species" of nanobots - ones to fix nitrogen, another to break down CO2 into O2, etc etc. Mars would be livable in a couple hundred/thousand years.

Re:Reproduction?

[pomegranatesix]

I'm scared of things that have the potential to be pathogenic. Not to mention terrestrial bacteria might not be so hapyp on Mars, though some have been found in some pretty harsh conditions. Robots might be a tiny bit safer; just wipe out their circuits with a giant electromagnetic pulse. (I read that in a scifi novel way back, heh.)

Re:Reproduction?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mars' atmosphere is incredibly thin and needs to be continually re-supplied. There isn't any question or speculation about it. The Earth's atmosphere is held in by electromagnetism, that's a fact, and it's a fact that's ignored by people who claim terraforming on Mars is feasible.

cool beans

[dahlek]

But, that LONG? I think it might be worth spending more money on more complex systems that are more versatile and can walk around up there basically for years instead of weeks or months...

These baby-steps seem so infuriating to me, lol, I want cool shait discovered before I die, damn it...

Would it be so difficult, with today's tech, to send a moderately expensive mini-factory of some sort, nuclear powered? We could send along plenty of CPUs and RAM, and then remote-prog the thing to spit out the "bodies". Once we find a cool place to go, we bring the buggers back to base, have them walk into a disassembly plant, chips get removed, metal gets melted, new forms are made, new vehicles are made and away they go - we send along some balloons to transport them to far-off sites...

Every so often, instead of sending a brand-new vehicle system, we send rubber, chips, helium, better solar-panels, Mars-orbit satellites to beam down concentrated sunlight or microwaves, etc. Or, relatively cheap science-kits/experiments, ready to be inserted into whatever vehicle the plant is currently making.

Maybe just maybe, as AI gets better, the installation can mine some of its own resources, but it seems to me that investing in a foot-hold of some real kind would be worth the cost.

One capability they should *NOT* implement

[gwydion04]

is self-replication, though it would seem awfully handy for such things as martian base construction.

Eric Drexler coined the term "Grey Goo" to describe the nightmare scenario that could ensue.

So where is the energy source?

[qualico]

I can envision a flexible photovoltaic fabric skin around the whole thing with rubber feet at each node or an energy collection mode that unrolls a photovoltaic sheet.

With a fabric skin it would look like an ameba when it moved.

I like the concept overall.
Should be interesting if this comes to fruition.

Re:Sounds like a good movie idea.

[blincoln]

What I wonder is why robots in movies usually feel the need to kill humankind?

Humans are unpredictable creatures with a history of xenophobia and slaughter on a scale that they can't even properly comprehend.

Exterminating that potential threat seems like a logical course of action for machine intelligence once it can survive on its own.

Re:Nanotechnology and futurism.

[erichill]

When I showed Drexler's original NAS paper to my grandfather, a physicist who get his Ph.D. under Millikan in 1932, his reaction was, "Hurrumpph, this is pretty presumptious!" And then went on about how alpha helix had been synthesised, but that's a long way from what Drexler was talking about. He died before STMs and the like came on the scene. He still would have "hurrumpphed."

It really is amazing to live in a time of such progress and have the means to observe it, and occasionally participate.

Wrong destination

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

Mars:

1. Rocks

Titan

1. Lakes and rivers
2. Clouds and real weather
3. Water spouting volcanoes
4. Complex organic compounds
5. Giant ringed planet in the sky (at least on a clear day, if they ever happen???)

Need I say more?

New problem...

[daijo78]

Forget viruses/bugs, how about cancer? Say these things should build an antenna but a few of them go crazy.