Attack of the killer prototype robots

October 2, 2006 | Source: CNET News.Com

Intel and Carnegie Mellon University are trying to see if millions of tiny robots can work together to create a shape-shifting intelligent fabric that could model any 3-D object and would change shape under software control.

The “Dynamic Physical Rendering” project would create a fabric composed of millions of independent silicon spheres covered in electronic actuators–half-capacitors or electromagnets. By applying charges to different actuators, different points on the sphere would be repelled or attracted to similar points on other spheres. The coordinated movement of the spheres would then cause the fabric to assume a shape.