Researchers are building robots that can build themselves

The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT is working on a project that will design robots that self- assemble. The goal of an autonomously built robot is still years away, but the work has already shown positive results.

The power and data that can be shared between pieces can be seen at the system's center. Before moving across the grid for further assembly, the pieces form the foundation of the robot.

According to the researchers, their approach challenges the convention that larger constructions need larger machines to build them, and could be applied in areas that require substantial capital investments for fixed infrastructure.

The image was taken at MIT.

The level of intelligence for these systems is not easy to develop. When to begin building a new robot and how to avoid bumping into each other are some of the things the robots need to know.

Neil Gershenfeld, one of the paper's authors, says in a release that intelligence is required when building structures. Structural electronics made voxels that transmit power and data as well as force.

There are still hardware issues. The team is trying to strengthen the voxels.

The desire for such a system is obvious. The team suggests that using the robot to determine the optimal build could save time. There is a note from MIT.

While there has been increasing interest in 3-D-printed houses, today those require printing machinery as large or larger than the house being built. Again, the potential for such structures to instead be assembled by swarms of tiny robots could provide benefits. And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is also interested in the work for the possibility of building structures for coastal protection against erosion and sea level rise.

The project was funded by NASA and the U.S. Army.