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Scientists have created prototype robots that can grow, heal and improve by integrating materials from the environment or “consuming” other robots. Researchers say it is a major step in developing robot autonomy.
The researchers coined the term “robotic metabolism” and described the process of allowing machines to absorb parts from their surroundings and reuse them. Scientists published their work in the Journal of Scientific Advances on July 16th.
“True autonomy means that you have to not only think about yourself, but you have to maintain yourself physically,” said the lead author of Philip Martin Weider, an engineering professor at Columbia University, in a statement.
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“As biological life absorbs and integrates resources, these robots grow, adapt and repair using materials from the environment or other robots.”
The robot is made from a “truss link.” This is a six-sided extension rod with magnetic connectors that can be contracted and expanded with other modules.
These modules can also be assembled and disassembled. Magnets allow robots to form increasingly complex structures in what manufacturers expect to become “an independent machine ecology.”
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There are two rules for robotic metabolism, scientists said in the study. First, the robot must either grow fully on its own or receive the support of other robots with similar components. Second, the only external provisions granted to the truss link are materials and energy. Truss links use a combination of automated and controlled behavior. Shape shift, cannibalism robot
“Bad Sci-Fi scenario”
In a controlled environment, scientists laid truss links throughout the environment and observed how the robot connects to other modules.
Researchers looked at how the truss links first assembled themselves in 2D shapes, but later integrated new parts to form a 3D tetrahedron that can navigate uneven test fields. The robot did this by integrating additional links for use as a walking stick, the researchers said in the study.
“The robot mindset has made a dramatic advance through machine learning over the past decade, but the robotic bodies are still monolithic, incompatible and unrecyclable. In contrast, all biological bodies are adaptable, and life forms can grow, heal and adapt.”
“Mainly, this ability comes from the modularity of biology, in which modularities (amino acids) can be used and reused from other living organisms,” added Lispon. “In the end, you need to do the same with your robots to learn to use and reuse parts from other robots.”
Researchers said they imagine a future in which machines can sustain themselves without human assistance. By being able to grow and adapt to a variety of tasks and environments, these robots can play an important role in, for example, Disaster Recovery and Space Exploration.
“The image of a self-replica robot reminds me of some bad science fiction scenarios,” Lipson said. “But the reality is that if we hand over more lives to robots, who will care for these robots, from unmanned cars to automated manufacturing, to defense and space exploration? We cannot rely on humans to maintain these machines. Robots ultimately have to learn to take care of themselves.”
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