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MIT Researcher Works Toward Robots That Assemble Themselves In an Oven

Posted by timothy on from the carefully-follow-the-plath dept.

TechCrunch is among the many outlets which carry news (based on a release from MIT professor Daniela Rus) of robots that take advantage of materials engineered to change shape with the application of heat. With carefully planned creases and slits "printed" into flat sheets of plastic, heat-induced deformation can be channeled to create complex three-dimentional shapes, something between origami and Shrinky-Dinks. The creases can also be used to create moving parts in the finished product, and -- as with papercraft -- folding, overlapping and other techniques can increase the stiffness or otherwise give useful properties to the robot bodies formed. From the article: "This project could also produce a variable resistor by opening or closing an electric component and even create metallic muscles that contract when heated or current is applied. It’s obviously still in very early stages right now but Rus and her team will exhibit the technology at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation this year and maybe, one day, our cake-like robotic servants will rise up and bake us."

20 comments

  1. Re:MIT killed Aaron! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Troll or not, it helps when you put a link about the subject in your post.

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  2. Can this be 3D printing somehow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 3D printing bandwagon still has lots of space left for yet more hype!

  3. No, I like the fail safe. by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    Robots formed this way can be properly managed using a chemical fire extinguisher like a shock collar.

    No! Bad robot.

    Whoooosh>

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    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:No, I like the fail safe. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until the Robots build something in the oven to overcome it..

    2. Re:No, I like the fail safe. by Optali · · Score: 1

      Like a pie?

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      -- 29A the number of the Beast
  4. Arghh. by Bartles · · Score: 1

    The video preview thumbnail even shows a robot. Actually watch the video, and all you get is some strain gauges the curl up, and a stupid coil. Not impressed!

    1. Re:Arghh. by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      Well the thumbnail shows a "robot" - the type you might see in a 1960's sitcom. There's nothing specifically robotic about anything in this apart from that image.

      There could be a use as a basic 3D printer, though it seems like it'd be a bit limited.

      Just write it off at MIT hype.

  5. LEGO ASSEMBLER by Latinhypercube · · Score: 1

    This has been solved !
    All you need is a LEGO manufacturing machine and a LEGO Assembler. Both prefereably made of LEGO.
    Next step, conquer the Galaxy...

  6. Matrix by WyldPhyr · · Score: 1

    This was what happend 150 years be for the Matrix

  7. earth's core by bob_jenkins · · Score: 1

    I hear the inside of the earth is molten, and under high pressure. What I want is a robot that operates at that temperature and pressure, and can swim about earth's core. Don't know what it would use as an energy source.

  8. Re:MIT killed Aaron! by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Just great. Now we are trying to forge robots from hell.

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  9. Cookie Robots! by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 2

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J0O0i9AKTU

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    Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
  10. Robots are treated same as bakery products by derrick11 · · Score: 1

    This news sound's quite interesting as this is the first time I ever heard that robots are treated same as bakery products :) I wish I would get a chance to see their assembling procedure once.

  11. Advancement !!! by jamieeloran2110 · · Score: 1

    i believe this is called development and advancement in technology !!

  12. Re:MIT killed Aaron! by FilmedInNoir · · Score: 1

    Robot Devil approves

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    Sig. Sig. Sputnik
  13. our cake-like robotic servants by kanuac · · Score: 0

    "our cake-like robotic servants will rise up and bake us."

    Err.. I've heard that before: http://p1.portal2sounds.com/17...

  14. 1950's robot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just because it has a humanoid form doesn't mean it has anything to do with robotics.

  15. frozen pizza by Laura+Ammaniti · · Score: 1

    They are suitable to put them under the bed (or freezer) and then you need them, just heat them in a owen.