Milli-Motein, chain of programmable matter with a 1 cm pitch, Center for Bits and Atoms, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

[Airicist]

Milli-Motein (Millimeter-Scale Motorized Protein)

Developer - Center for Bits and Atoms (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?11121)

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/AQf0qsRTsoA

(Tiny) Reconfigurable Robots at MIT

Published on Nov 30, 2012


The device doesn't look like much: a caterpillar-sized assembly of metal rings and strips resembling something you might find buried in a home-workshop drawer. But the technology behind it, and the long-range possibilities it represents, are quite remarkable.

The little device is called a milli-motein — a name melding its millimeter-sized components and a motorized design inspired by proteins, which naturally fold themselves into incredibly complex shapes. This minuscule robot may be a harbinger of future devices that could fold themselves up into almost any shape imaginable.

The device was conceived by Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, visiting scientist Ara Knaian and graduate student Kenneth Cheung, and is described in a paper presented recently at the 2012 Intelligent Robots and Systems conference. Its key feature, Gershenfeld says: "It's effectively a one-dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip, without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into arbitrary shapes."


https://youtu.be/EN_KkGdxqog

MIT News at Noon with Neil Gershenfeld and Ara Knaian

Published on Dec 3, 2012


Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Center for Bits and Atoms, and visiting scientist Ara Knaian, deliver their"News at Noon" talk at the MIT Museum. The event is co-sponsored by the MIT News Office and the Museum, and features researchers discussing their recently promoted work.

On Nov. 30, Gershenfeld and Knaian discussed their robot, the Milli-Motein, which is not only one of the world's smallest robots, but if can also reconfigure itself in a matter of seconds.

[Airicist]

Article "The robotic equivalent of a Swiss army knife (http://news.mit.edu/2012/reconfigurable-robots-turn-into-anything-1130)"

by David L. Chandler
November 30, 2012

[Airicist]

Article "The Milli-Motein: A Self-Folding Chain of Programmable Matter
with a One Centimeter Module Pitch (http://cba.mit.edu/docs/papers/12.10.IROS.pdf)"

by Ara N. Knaian, Kenneth C. Cheung, Maxim B. Lobovsky,
Asa J. Oines, Peter Schmidt-Neilsen, and Neil A. Gershenfeld