May 11, 2005

Cornell researchers build a robot that can reproduce "Admittedly the machine is just a proof of concept -- it performs no useful function except to self-replicate -- but the basic principle could be extended to create robots that could replicate or at least repair themselves while working in space or in hazardous environments, according to Hod Lipson, ... in whose lab the robots were built and tested."
posted by techsmith 18 years ago
  • OH GREAT now we're going to be overrun by ugly-looking cube robots
  • It was bound to happen, SideDish.
  • "it performs no useful function except to self-replicate" I feel that way a lot.
  • Do people not watch/read science fiction? Do they not know the consequences? Sigh.
  • Terminators! Good thing Arnie's in government now.
  • Do people not watch/read science fiction? Do they not know the consequences? Um, yeah
  • This robot, it fucks?
  • If they'd done it with Lego Mindstorms I'd be impressed.
  • I'm pretty sure they kept this part a secret!
  • Reminds me of that list of ways to destroy the earth. One of them was to create a robot that gathers material from the earth to make more of itself, and then when they run out of material and the earth is entirely gone, they all fly into the sun. That aside, I think it'd be hilarious to close one of these in a coworkers office when they leave for a vacation.
  • do humans serve any real purpose other than to self-replicate? Just askin'.
  • I for one fuck our new robot overlords.
  • It reassembles with premade parts. Fucking pussy-ass robotics researchers. This isn't FPP worthy in its current form, in my opinion.
  • Well... there was that BarBot that made the rounds a few months ago (saw it on MeFi, I think?) Except that one does nothing useful except mooch coins and buy itself booze.
  • look the nipponese make a robot that makes sushi. GOOD SUSHI. Beat that shit. We're slipping behind. None of the japanese have Unix beards and they clearly have haremz
  • Yeah, and Are you a female to male transexual? kicks FPP dick.
  • u wanna throw down I'll take u right here right now answer me this though this riddle: what kind of fish can fly? answer the penguin
  • I dunno.. I thought the video was worth it alone!
  • I, for one, welcome our new box-like self-replicating overlords . . .
  • I tend to agree with ActuallySettle... this was disappointing "news" to me. I overheard someone this morning, "hey did you see that clip on the news where the robot thingy cloned itself!?" When a robot can engineer a copy of itself without being fed parts from its human master, I'll bow down and praise the mighty overlords. Ok, so they prooved a somewhat interesting point. If they really wanted to blow-the-socks-off everyone, they should have programmed that colorless deformed rubic's cube to synthesize some polycarbonate, then replicate itself...
  • err, proovedproved
  • "9.) Eaten by von Neumann machines You will need: a single von Neumann machine" Thinking of this, perhaps?
  • Next up is Robo-syphilis.
  • Only if they start fooling around with robo-chickens.
  • Do people not watch/read science fiction? Do they not know the consequences? Yes, the consequences of watching/reading science fiction are unspeakably horrible.