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Robots With Square Wheels?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the being-a-square-not-such-a-bad-thing dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "About eighteen months ago, I told you about a tricycle with square wheels which needed a specially designed road. But now, Distributed Robotics, a company from Troy, N.Y., is developing robots with square wheels which don't need specific roads. These new 'cars' propel themselves on flat surfaces by taking advantage of gravity. This might sound crazy, but the inventors think it could lead to new robots and toys, and more generally to new micro-machines or MEMS applications."

2 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Re:ROTATING TURRET OF DOOM! by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why are folks so obsessed with literally reinventing the wheel?
    Because if, against all odds, you managed to do it, you'd be rich and famous beyond your wildest dreams.
    Besides, what's the challenge of trying to invent something when people believe it _can_ be done?

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  2. Re:Why? by Potor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The beauty of a university (even in this age of patents, industrial parks, and spin-offs) is that in theory any problem can be investigated without having to be justified. Who knows if this experiment will go anywhere (pun really not intended), but the ultimate (perhaps, commercial) form of any pure research is quite hard to imagine ab inititio.

    I know that you are just asking a question, and indeed a good question. I am simply trying to forestall the opinion that because the advantages are not immediately to be seen, this must be a waste.