Dear Friends of Science and technology,

Johnnie FIVE IS ALIVE ? US robot builds copies of itself
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4538547.stm (this may lead to revolution not
only to the technology but will be greatest step towards the Research in the
Space and beyond - where one can not be repaired)

US researchers have devised a simple robot that can make copies of itself from
spare parts. (Watch a Sci-Fi Movie - "Short Circuit")

Amazon.co.uk: Video: Short Circuit 2 [1988]
.. by lightning causing a short circuit and making robot number 5 (Johnny)
alive. This movie has several other subplots ... Can Johnny help?) Will Johnny
Five be recovered? ...
Writing in Nature, the robot's creators say their experiment shows the ability
to reproduce is not unique to biology. Their long-term plan is to design robots
made from hundreds or thousands of identical basic modules. These could repair
themselves if parts fail, reconfigure themselves to better perform the task they
have been set, or even to make extra helpers. So far the robots, if they can be
called that, consist of just three or four mobile cubes.

Each unit comes with a small computer code carrying a blueprint for the layout
of the robot, electrical contacts to let it communicate with its neighbours, and
magnets to let them stick together. By turning and moving, the cubes can pick up
new units, decide where they belong, and stack them alongside each other to make
new devices. In a little more than a minute, a simple three-cube robot can make
a copy of itself.

That offspring version can then make further copies. It's only a toy
demonstration of the idea, but lead researcher Hod Lipson, of Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York, has bold plans for these intelligent modular machines.
"Space applications clearly come to mind. If you're sending a robot to one of
Jupiter's moons, and the robot breaks, then the mission is over," Dr Lipson told
the BBC. "So you would like to have a robotic system that can adapt, or to
repair itself, remotely. So that would be one clear application."

Other applications could be down mines or in nuclear facilities. The researchers
have previously used aspects of evolution to help them design robots. Combining
this with the biology of self-repair and of replication would make huge changes
to the field of robotics.

With Compliments from: Dr. BHUDIA : Science Group Of INDIA.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/venustransit_2004/
President:"Kutch Science Foundation".
Founder :"Kutch Amateurs Astronomers Club - Bhuj - Kutch".
Life Member:"kutch Itihaas Parishad".
kutchscience@..., kutchscience@...,
http://uk.geocities.com/wildlifeofkutch/
http://www.geocities.com/kutchscience
http://profiles.yahoo.com/kutchscience2000
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/scienceclubofindia
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/kutchscience
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/kachchh
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/bhuj

Do visit our ABOVE Clubs/Groups of Science club of India & Science



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