Cellular shape shifting tangible systems
Please note: These are possible products of advanced productive nanosystems (nanofactories) and not productive nanosystems that make things from raw atoms themselves. Far term goal productive nanosystems do not consist out of swarming nanobots. The old molecular assembler concept was an early simple bio-analogy. It is obsolete for a long time by now.
- Utility fog (microscale bots with nanoscale atomic precision)
- Claytronics (mesoscale and smaller)
- Brachiating gridcrawlers (macroscale and both smaller and bigger)
There are some ongoing experiments with current day technology in which we gain some preliminary experience.
Delineation to other modular robotic systems
Hallmark of these systems are that they are cellular homogeneous and that they are lacking specialized subsystems.
Or rather the specialized subsystems come as pre-build as monolithic-unit vitamins …
- from a lower assembly level (nanoscale) or
- from a different manual assembly or off-site industrial manufacturing process (macroscale)
For systems that are not monolithic in that ways see:
RepRec pick-and-place robots (GemGum)
Intermediate
There are some attempts of the Center for Bits and Atoms to make the robots in
Brachiating gridcrawlsers nonmonolithic but be themselves made from the grid they are producing.
External links
- Wikipedia Self-reconfiguring modular robot (contains a good overview over current experimental macroscopic systems)
