Autonomous self-manufacturing robots are the stuff we humans have nightmares about, and Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization Fraunhofer has designed a simple version of these robots. They designed their robots using cylindrical tubes that have socketed joints that can take on different shapes depending on external factors such as environment. Called ‘genetic robots’ these machines use a special algorithm that was derived from ‘fitness functions’ so the robot can move on any given surface which includes water. The algorithm is also responsible for the design of the robot. Andreas Fischer, industrial designer and product developer at IPA, talks about the robot design saying, “The only input needed is: ‘Move forwards as efficiently as possible along a level surface, another advantage is that the algorithm often spits out surprising variations – ‘mutations’ that would not necessarily have occurred to the design.” Along with the various ‘mutations’, the genetic robot can also design subcomponents that it can implement such as gripping devices. For more information on IPA’s genetic robot please visit: http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2010/11/euromold-genetic-robots.jsp
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