MIT researcher Daniella Rus has been developing heat-activated self-building robots. In the video posted to MIT’s blog earlier today, you can watch these parts fold themselves into a mini robot, Transformers-like. It’s more dramatic than you think. The technology can also build individual robot parts like “muscles” and circuits. The final goal is to 3D-print the needed components, turn on the heat and have the robots make themselves. Rus explains:
We have this big dream of the hardware compiler, where you can specify, ‘I want a robot that will play with my cat,’ or ‘I want a robot that will clean the floor,’ and from this high-level specification, you actually generate a working device.
Perhaps, a day will come and can bake our own bartender robot in minutes. Dream big.
