| Thread Tools |
21st May 2012, 09:13 | #1 |
[M] Reviewer Join Date: May 2010 Location: Romania
Posts: 153,514
| Robot uses glue gun to make tools, hopes to ace Survival Skills 101 Looking through Engadget's annals of robotic achievements, we see droids juggling, dabbling in competitive sailing and even manning prisons. Cool as they are, those functions aren't going to mean a thing when Mr. Automaton is lost in the wilderness, damaged and without a helping human hand in sight. Researchers at ETH Zurich are working to change that scenario, as they're currently developing a "self-reconfigurable" device that packs a glue gun for creating the tools it needs on the fly. It might not be the quickest method -- as you'll see in the video below, making a glue cup takes a good hour -- but it's effective enough for transporting and pouring water. That's not to say that the prototype is ready to fend for itself; it built the cup, but only under human direction. The researchers' next step is adding in autonomous capabilities so the bots can repair things -- and even build other robots -- without being told to do so. A sea of self-regenerating droids? Sounds harmless to us. http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/19/r...ols-with-glue/ |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Study: Multitasking Hinders Youth Social Skills | Stefan Mileschin | WebNews | 0 | 30th January 2012 08:07 |
Next-gen graphics connector picks up DRM skills | jmke | WebNews | 0 | 7th November 2006 08:01 |
IT Managers glue up USB ports | jmke | WebNews | 2 | 4th July 2006 14:30 |
Guide: Properly Glue Acrylic or Plexi | jmke | WebNews | 0 | 1st February 2005 11:15 |
Prescott Survival Kit - Charity Auction on eBay | Sidney | WebNews | 3 | 8th July 2004 00:16 |
removing super glue | TeuS | General Madness - System Building Advice | 5 | 15th March 2003 01:27 |
Thread Tools | |
| |