Scary? See This Giant ‘Silkworm’ Robot Weave Its Cocoon
- Posted on May 1, 2012 at 8:59pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Image: IDG video screenshot)
Some compare this robot to a spider, others a silkworm. However you look at it slowly and serenely weaving together a web or cocoon, it may just leave you with a bit of a disconcerted feeling.
Developed by the Mediated Matter group at MIT’s Media Lab, the robot is expected to someday be able to scan its environment and someday weave a structure that would be appropriate for the space. Watch the robot at work:
For now, the robot is programmed to know where all the pegs on which it can weave are located. Someday, the team hopes it will be autonomous. CNET has more:
The researchers, who also study 3D printing, drop phrases like “additive manufacturing processes” and say that eventually they‘ll replace the yarn shown in the video with nylon that will harden once it’s put in place. One can imagine manufacturing or construction methods that involve a machine that works with a given physical framework to create custom designs. “We‘re working on the sensing so it knows where it’s going on its own,” Research Assistant Elizabeth Tsai says in a short article by Barber.
(Image: IDG video screenshot)
With these expectations for independent, autonomous movement, CNET writes what we’re all thinking: that this sounds like a pretty nightmarish scenario:
Robots that can learn to hunt? Robots that move like spiders? Robots that can autonomously spin webs?
Popular Science takes a bit more of an optimistic approach, seeing it as optimizing its own space. What are your feelings toward it?
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inferno
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:28pmNo robot is needed to weave anything. The dumb stream media does a better job of weaving an Obama myth, and they don’t even have a brain.
Report Post »nobama4ever
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 6:56pmgood one :)
Report Post »FlamingFartSyndrome
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 1:49amWhat an ignorant thing to say. This is a HUGE step in computer engineering and will lead to even better inventions. If your so smart, lets see you come up with something that changes the future.
Report Post »grownup
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 7:45amGive it the duct tape and wheels and it will be a handyman.
Report Post »Sh3LLz
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 11:29pmUnimpressed. While they have taken YEARS of science and Years of study and tons of money and many hours of design and coding,
All they have done is reproduce ONE ASPECT of a silkworms life and made a robot do it. A silk worm does MORE than this thing can do. This simply enforces the fact that God created life. Look at all the work they did just to produce a robot that can do ONE thing at a time!!
To say that the complexity of life is “accidental” is akin to a tornado going though a junkyard and producing a fully functioning jumbo jet. Its completely UNREASONABLE.
Report Post »Nasado
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 7:07amAh, humanity. The only species trying to make itself obsolete.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 11:06amThe entire purpose of ‘science’ has been redefined to ‘prove there “IS” no God’.
This “IS” pure garbage. All this ‘is’ is the reinvention of a textile weaving machine using computer controls rather than ingenuity and REAL engineering. And this from MIT.
We really have had to move the bar lower these days, haven’t we?
I mean, they sent Apollo to the moon, using a SLIDE RULE.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:48pmBefore starting the video who else guessed that it would be an Asian doing that and not a Trayvon supporter?
Report Post »Blazeanswerman
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 12:05amWhat?
Report Post »Born2Run
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 10:02amNo pizza for you!
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:46pmSo where are my new socks & sweater?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:43pmHere’s an idea: lets let Barrack Obama design a robot, or an invention?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:37pmIt will be funny if they made robots so smart the robots started saying: the hell with you do it yourself.
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 11:45pmMaybe they did… and we are they!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:32pmCool, it makes me want to work 80 hrs per week and give my money to the government….oh not so much.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:31pmCool it makes me want to invent, and give all my money to the government…oh not so much.
Report Post »applehill
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 9:58pmI worked in a factory that had robot arms like this. Since it is all pre-programmed and not antonymous than it should be running a lot faster then what it is. Kick that bad boy up a few notches and then it would be a cool video. Really nothing new in this video. Just a robot weaving a web that was pre- programmed.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 9:48pmNeat ! miniaturize it and this bot could weave you a tent anywhere!
Report Post »RamonPreston
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 9:48pmRobots need to work in a human-free environment. They don’t know when a human enters their space and they can be dangerous. Supervisor where I worked went a round with one. Score: Boss:0, Robot 1
Report Post »Doctor Nordo
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:47pmOnce Skynet takes over it’s going to be Robots: 6.5 billion, Humans: 0
Report Post »PapaPatriarch
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 9:15pmLoad it up with some duct-tape…
Report Post »cdcats8
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 9:10pmCool gadget. Might spark a young mind to dream even farther.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on May 1, 2012 at 10:41pmYeah and they can invent a robot that will make life easier so people can be lazier. Although it seems that concept is somewhat self decaying since as people get lazier, robotic design will falter.
Report Post »Doctor Nordo
Posted on May 2, 2012 at 2:39amYeah, Tim. Just like how all of the other countless inventions over the millenia that have made life easier and enabled people to be lazier have made scientific and technological progress falter.
Oh, wait… it’s actually the opposite. In fact, technology advances at an exponential rate. See Moore’s Law for example.
Seriously, do you ever stop to think before you hit the post button? I doubt it, since whenever I see your name it’s typically a half dozen separate posts filled with nonsense fired in rapid succession.
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