Sandman Comes to Life in Pentagon Chemical Robots
By Anna Mulrine, Washington Whispers
Top scientists working for the Pentagon say that they are close to creating "chemical robots." Yes, bloblike creations that can morph back and forth from solid to liquidlike forms and squeeze under doors and through keyholes, much like the Sandman of Spider-Man fame or the villain of Terminator 2. The point: to help troops in the field who "might want to go through a space or a hole but can't because it's too dangerous or small," says Mitchell Zakin, the program manager for the programmable matter division at the pioneering Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. "The way you do that, you have some sort of object that will squeeze through a door or drop through a drain or vent hole." This "blobby" robot of sorts "sounds futuristic." But, Zakin adds, "it's mind-boggling the progress being made on this."
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Reader Comments
Sounds GREAT...
How long till this or any of "our" wonderfull genetic mutations come back to kill us?
I'm all for human discovery but, ummn....
"curiosity killed the...."
Chemical Robots
Chemical robot? You mean like an amoeba? The famous science fiction concept of "Smart Stuff" or "Smart Goo" is a staple of the best 1950's and 1970's-90's short stories. The best might be "I Put My Blue Genes On" from the late 1970's (published in "Analog"). The bots in these stories come in two kinds: nanomachinery and proteinaceous 'wet' robots. The nano-dust bots are basically piles of fibrous actuators and millions of sub-components so the robots can fabricate cameras and transmitters and antennae as needed. The wet robots have organelles for all these functions. The creations in "I Put My Blue Genes On" are genetically engineered *humans* that permanently take the form of large intelligent amoebae, and mix the roles of secret agent, soldier, robot, and explorer...
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