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Self-Sculpting "Sand" Can Allow Spontaneous Formation of Tools
parallel_prankster writes "Researchers at MIT are developing tiny robots that can assemble themselves into products and then disassemble when no longer needed. 'A heap of smart sand would be analogous to the rough block of stone that a sculptor begins with. The individual grains would pass messages back and forth and selectively attach to each other to form a three-dimensional object; the grains not necessary to build that object would simply fall away. When the object had served its purpose, it would be returned to the heap. Its constituent grains would detach from each other, becoming free to participate in the formation of a new shape.' To attach to each other, to communicate and to share power, the cubes use 'electropermanent magnets,' materials whose magnetism can be switched on and off with jolts of electricity."
Nanites = BAD NEWS.
This can only end badly.
I was thinking of the block-form replicators from the Stargate franchise.
~
Seems like that would make the job of the police more difficult in finding a weapon used in a crime. "We can't find the knife. There is just this pile of sand."
Main character made a gun that way.
Replicators = BAD NEWS.
They are near impossible to kill when they take human form.
of Spider-Man 3.
I've just figured out what the next magnetic iPad cover is going to look like.
electropermanent magnets turn off with current, not on. The electromagnet neutralizes the permanent magnet while the circuit is active. This makes the connection via the permanent magnet energy efficient - no current is required to turn it on, only break the bond.
Miniaturize them far enough, so they can float in the air and still communicate and grip, and you have what's termed a utility fog. Such a fog would be tremendously useful, provided proper authentication and encryption could restrict control to authorized persons: tools could be formed freely and to unheard-of precision, in real-time, responding to the needs of the user; weapons could be supplied with unlimited ammunition that disperses on impact, only to be reformed in the weapon; cars could do away with airbags and seat belts in favor of hardening the atmosphere for a second to affix the passengers in place in the event of a crash; or even enforcing the laws of morality like physical laws (I read this last one in a novel long ago, where the air would harden around the striking fist to block the punch). The possibilities are literally endless, if the technology can be implemented properly.
Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
I for one welcome our Stargate Atlants inspired nanotech-changeling replicator overlords.
.: Max Romantschuk
Poor genius is going to change the face of the planet but doesn't know what a "Tie Rod" is.
...sand castle form YOU.
Two quotes immediately sprang to mind...
Technological advance is an inherently iterative process. One does not simply take sand from the beach and produce a Dataprobe. We use crude tools to fashion better tools, and then our better tools to fashion more precise tools, and so on. Each minor refinement is a step in the process, and all of the steps must be taken.
Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Looking God in the Eye"
and
Already we have turned all of our critical industries, all of our material resources, over to these...things...these lumps of silver and paste we call nanorobots. And now we propose to teach them intelligence? What, pray tell, will we do when these little homunculi awaken one day announce that they have no further need for us?
Sister Miriam Godwinson, "We must Dissent"
This sounds like a great idea until someone decides to embed DRM into it.
All they show is a simulation. I want to see it working.
Oh god, here it comes!
I can't wait for the first industrial accident involving this stuff.
Required reading: Why The Future Doesn't Need Us
Speaking for anyone who has ever gotten sand in their ass at the beach, let me say that I'm not sure if I like where this could be going...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Replace "magnets" with "money".
The Shoggoths wipes out the Elder Things
from TFA "researchers will present a _pape_r describing _algorithms_ that _could_ enable such “smart sand.”"
*ALGORITHMS* that *COULD* enable. Not *CAN*, but *COULD*. and not *SAND*, but *ALGORITHMS*.
Might as well say, "Tom and Jane colored a sandcastle with crayons that flies."
but no, it's the commercial internet, so we have to continuously hype every little thing to keep dickheads clicking.
BTW, all of that "research" in TFA is ripped off of my former colleague Ara Knaian's work on electropermanent motors. Except that Ara's work was in 3D and this vignette was in 2D. sigh.
I hope you enjoyed that 1 minute break from your life... it's catching up to you, better find a new distraction!
Finally, a dildo you don't have to hide in the sock drawer!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
if you really wanted to screw mankind make them out of some ridiculous metal like adamantium-kryptonanotube alloy or some shit so it would be hard to melt a large number them before they absorb the energy and self-replicate from the next available source of atoms.
On the flip side, all you need is a bin you can fit in with this stuff and you'll never have to dress yourself! Just hope the sand doesn't lose form in public.
If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
I think this tech might be a bit far away from us. But imagine injecting tiny blobs into the body that could create a new heart or younger brain. And then there is that twelve inch part that I was born a bit short of.....
http://xkcd.com/865/
Do they have anything? No. This is vapour ware. Someone has written a research proposal which lets him spend his life watching Stargate.
Deleted
Aw, someone's got a case of the Mondays!
Perhaps this is the predecessor to a T-1000 type of robot. This concept being "sand" and the next concept being more of a "liquid"
1: Aquire a bottle of port wine. Ruby port is fine, as long as it's genuine port. 2. pour a finger into the bottom of a drinking glass, unless you have one of those fancy small stemmed glasses. 3. Drink.
Emotions! In your brain!
LOL! They must be really dumb if they are being called idiots by someone who doesn't know the difference between your and you're.
Agree. I don't have a smart phone and there is no wifi for me to use. So I have to print out the slashdot comments and take them to the shitter to read. I use Firefox and print them at 50% scale. The first ten pages are enough to cover a 15 to 20 minute shit.
It was in one of these print outs that I discovered a post deletion functionality built into the slashcode. The delete post links were quite clear when no CSS or javascript was applied. But I digress.
Nothing pisses me off more than the first 6 pages of my print out being the same redundant and not funny joke or reference. Slashdot use to be a place for intelligent discussion where I learned something new everyday. Now it's a stagnant turd no better than what I flush down the toilet.
This research is a total ripoff of Wizards of the Coast's intellectual property.
Anyone read Trillions by Nicholas Fisk from back in 1971? Sounds like MIT is making science fact..
Is cube the best shape to use as far as manufacturing and self-assembly goes?
They talk more or less about re-using blocs by dropping them into a box, but cubes never pack up neatly, no matter which size they are. Is there a geometric shape that stacks automatically in 3D?
Also, I don't get why they keep writing "10mm" instead of just "1cm".
I totally already saw this technology in Terminator 2.
Has no one seen The Outer Limits - Sandkings?!
lather rinse repeat... always repeat.
I mean it's cool, but these are the size of Lego blocks, not exactly Sandman from Spiderman II
Gently reply
LOL I can only guess you are in Antarctica. This would explain the lack of a smartphone, wireless and fiber in your diet.
You mean YOU'RE, not YOUR, you analphabet!
Utility fog (coined by Dr. John Storrs Hall in 1993) is a hypothetical collection of tiny robots that can replicate a physical structure. As such, it is a form of self-reconfiguring modular robotics. - Wikipedia: Utility Fog
Of course, I didn't first read about this in any of the papers from 1993, I read about it in Transmetropolitian (Warren Ellis/Darick Robertson/DC Comics/1997-2002)
Oh, great, we'll see pre-fab sand castles in stores, taking all the fun out of *that* little competition. Real scientists should not play with sand.
So I have to print out the slashdot comments and take them to the shitter to read.
Buy a fucking tablet already...
That he thinks the GP has a "pencil-like thingie" and spits out "utility fog".
Sounds something like the "Smart Metal" from the Kris Longknife Sci-Fi series by Mike Shepherd.
So once again reality can duplicate Sci-Fi...