These Self-Assembling Robots Will Blow Your Mind Melanie Gonick - MIT News
go to original October 11, 2013

Small cubes that self-assemble (MITNewsOffice)

They said it couldn’t be done. But it has! MIT researchers recently managed to create self-assembling modular robots. The researchers even released a video demonstrating their success.

Known as M-Blocks, the robots are cubes with no external moving parts. Nonetheless, they're able to climb over and around one another, leap through the air, roll across the ground, and even move while suspended upside down from metallic surfaces.

Inside each M-Block is a flywheel that can reach speeds of 20,000 revolutions per minute; when the flywheel is braked, it imparts its angular momentum to the cube. On each edge of an M-Block, and on every face, are cleverly arranged permanent magnets that allow any two cubes to attach to each other.

Learn more at MIT News: Surprisingly simple scheme for self-assembling robots

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