I could see a billion military apps for something like that. Bet someone's still cooking with the project in secret.
On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 8:28 PM, Mr. Worf <hellomahog...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Video: Pentagon’s Shape-Shifting Bot Folds Into Boat, Plane > > - By Noah > Shachtman<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/author/noah_shachtman/> [image: > Email Author] <noah.shacht...@gmail.com> > - June 29, 2010 | > - 11:19 am | > - Categories: Science!<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/category/science/> > - > > Even for the Pentagon’s science-fiction division, it seemed like a > stretch. But in 2007, Darpa really did launch an effort to build programmable > matter that could reconfigure itself on > command<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/03/darpa_wants_a_s/>. > Then, two years later, Harvard and MIT researchers really did make progress > building “self-folding > origami<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/universal-rubiks-cube-could-become-pentagon-shapeshifter/>” > that just might be able to twist themselves into different shapes. > Yesterday, Darpa-backed electrical engineers at the two schools released the > stunning results: a shape-shifting sheet of rigid tiles and elastomer joints > that can fold itself into a little plane or a boat on demand. > > It’s “a first step towards making everyday objects whose mechanical > properties can be > programmed<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/hu-ssa062810.php>,” > Harvard’s Robert Wood says in a statement. > > The sheet, less than a half-millimeter thick, “is studded with thin foil > actuators and flexible electronics. The demonstration material contains 25 > total actuators, divided into five groupings. A shape is produced by > triggering the proper actuator groups in sequence,” the statement explains. > > The shape-shifter takes a four-step approach to figures out how to > rearrange itself. Step one: Take a 3-D model of a completed origami shape, > and then reverse-engineer it to see what kind of “folding paths” are needed > to get there. Step two: Take that information to “produc[e] a discrete > folding plan” for each tile group, Wood and his fellow researchers note in > the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. “The third > algorithm receives each of the individual plans [and] assembles them onto > one sheet…. Finally, the fourth algorithm chooses the optimum arrangement > [to] minimize either the number of actuators or number of actuator groups.” > > From there, the thin little machine gets to transforming itself. > > In Darpa’s dreams, this work will eventually lead to everything from > morphing aircraft to self-styling uniforms to a “universal spare > part<http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/Signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=1964&zoneid=263> > .” > > But in the meantime, a piece of robotic origami that can fold itself into a > boat or a plane is wild enough. > > *See Also:* > > - Darpa Wants a > Shape-Shifter<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/03/darpa_wants_a_s/> > - Universal 'Rubik's Cube' Could Become Pentagon > Shape-Shifter<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/universal-rubiks-cube-could-become-pentagon-shapeshifter/> > - Shape-Shifting Robots in > Action<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/01/shape-shifting/> > - Roomba Maker Will Build Blob > 'Bots<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/06/drone-maker-wil/> > - Video: Pentagon Blob-Bot Changes Shape, Lurches > Ahead<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/video-pentagon-blob-bot-changes-shape-lurches-ahead/> > > > Read More > http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/video-pentagon-shape-shifter-folds-itself-into-boat-plane/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fpolitics+%28Wired%3A+Politics%29#ixzz0slNhZWTQ > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
