Real Transformer Robots Coming Our Way

One of the most unique aspects of the pursuit of developing useful robots is the focus on robots that can assemble and reassemble, generating images of the Transformers from the comic books, TV shows, and movies many of us have looked at or read.

That is becoming more of a reality, as the desirability of what robots like this could accomplish has driven interest and experimentation to places we wouldn't have dreamed of that long ago.

At the basic level, a couple of blocks will be able to assemble to form a new structure in response to a certain situation, challenge, or need.

If the robotic pieces are on the ground or surface, and they face an obstacle, they could assemble to surmount it, and then disassemble to continue on their way or to their original purpose.

That means there could be a number of built-in response these blocks would have, outside of their key function; just like we want to go somewhere that includes having to climb a hill to get there.

Our purpose isn't to climb the hill, but we must have the ability to do so if we want to reach our destination and reason for traveling there. The same is so with these types of robots.

Modular or reassembling robotics has come a long way, but as in other aspects of robotics, the underlying and major challenge to extraordinary breakthroughs are the need to advance in artificial intelligence. Once that happens, it could even be scary what could ultimately be developed in this field.

On the other hand, some of the advances for good would have the opposite effect. The potential is unlimited, but it seems we need to proceed cautiously because of the usual unintended consequences which could emerge.

Picture a swarm of self assembling robots loosed into the world that take some matter into their own hands.

On the positive side of the equation, the potential fo modular robots is enormous; from medical, miniature robots, to robots used for search and rescue, or for exploration and purposes related to space travel.

What has been envisioned by NASA and others, is the ability of a robot, or really robots, to be dropped into certain environments and reassemble into a variety of robots depending on what the goal is.

The blocks would assemble for one purpose, than disassemble and reassemble for another.

Eventually a set up these robotic blocks or pieces could transform into almost anything in order to meet a challenge successfully.

What if robots are on another planet or moon, or even possibly asteroid; or maybe they could be in a remote location on earth in a search in rescue mission, and something goes wrong with them?

Work is going on with the pieces able to work to fix themselves. And if there are enough pieces, it's almost certain there would be extra in case of the inevitable happening.

So if they could heal or fix themselves, one of the blocks could simply be abandoned with no overall harm done to the mission or modular robot.

They will be able to self-repair if at all possible, and that's an amazing thing to consider when considering some of the stakes that could be at play when the robots are deployed.

Here we have an example of group of robots laid out on an air hockey table in a stochastic (random) manner.

The developers said this in their YouTube description:

"We present an integral feedback controller that regulates the average copy number of an assembly in a system of stochastically interacting robots. The mathematical model for these robots is a tunable reaction network, which makes this approach applicable to a large class of other systems, including ones that exhibit stochastic self-assembly at various length scales. We prove that this controller works for a range of setpoints and how to compute this range both analytically and experimentally. Finally, we demonstrate these ideas on a physical testbed."

The value of this type of experimentation, as I see it, is to see how the robots respond in circumstances that appear random, or unexpected challenges.

There are surely more purposes than this, but that seems to be the most practical one.

Art seems to always follow innovation, and that's already true with modular robots, as you'll see below.

Here we have a robotic chair created as a piece of art by Max Dean and Raffaello D’Andrea.

According to D’Andrea, when the video was first released, a number of people believed it was a hoax, when in fact it is a self-contained system.

He said, “Others thought it was remote-controlled. The reality of it is, it’s not. It’s a self-contained system that does what it does.” Communication between the parts was accomplished by a computer. Infrared and wireless has also been used by others in building modular robots.

It appears for far away places solar power will be the choice, while that and powerful and long-lasting batteries could be the power source for robots operating on earth.

We are a long way from modular robots being able to construct anything complex, but the potential is there, and there is no doubt eventually we'll reach that stage, although it'll be far into the future.

With that in mind, the video below shows some examples of how the robots could construct something more complex.

One challenge faced here is to develop a means for the modules to work together. Part of that would probably be the need to create a powerful algorithm, as well as the artificial intelligence mentioned earlier.

The pieces would somehow have to see the vision of the whole, like humans do, to be able to begin to construct something to meed a specific need. That will be a huge challenge to overcome.

Even less challenging self-assembly face the same obstacles; only on a smaller basis. Those of course will have to be conquered first before the more complex designs are worked on.

This is why swarms and randomness are part of the ongoing experiments in the field.

Now we'll come down to earth and look at more simple and practical applications of modular robots.

As you can see in the photos, these modular robots are able to assemble into a variety of pieces of furniture.

Here's the goal of these furniture robots, according to the designers:

"The type of scenario that we envision for the Rolex Learning Center is a group of Roombots that autonomously connect to each other to form different types of furniture, e.g. stools, chairs, sofas and tables, depending on user requirements. This furniture will change shape over time (e.g. a stool becoming a chair, a set of chairs becoming a sofa) as well as move using actuated joints to different locations depending on the users needs. When not needed, the group of modules can create a static structure such as a wall or a box."

The developers add that their goal for users is to be able to offer simple guidance for the robots, rather than the need for complicated programming.

Picture sitting at home at one of these pieces of furniture in the morning before going to work and programming them to change into a table or couple of chairs for expected guests. Very cool practical possibilities with this one.

The conversation concerning miniature robots inserted into the body for medical purposes has been going on for some time, and it entails modular robotics as well.

In the case of miniature medical robots, they would be inserted into the body and then assemble for a certain purpose and or procedure.

Here's a look as a robot called ARES (Assembling Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical System), from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna’s CRIM Lab in Italy, which does just that.

Those working on the device are looking at ways surgery could be performed from within without the need to do anything from the outside.

At this time, the idea is to have a patient swallow as many as 15 little parts, which would then self-assemble within the body. Each individual block or module would have a specific purpose and function, such as diagnostics, scanning, among others, depending on the needs of the patient.

There are some complexities at this stage, as the doctor would have to not only diagnose the problem, but then choose various modules which would be needed to treat it.

The means of removing the little robots would be through disintegration at the completion of the operation, or to be discharged naturally.

Even thought they're small at this time, there is a need to make them much smaller if they will be available for most parts of the body.

Those working on ARES are also working on what is called a ‘spider pill.’ That is a camera which now will be able to navigate in the body by the use of little, remote-controlled legs.

Now that engineers and scientists are highly focused on the developing of modular robots, we're going to see an amazing future unfold. Many of us will live to experience this; for better or worse.

As with anything, man has the propensity for doing good and evil, and depending on choices made, modular robots could, and probably will be, used for both.

But the genie is out of the bottle on this one, and nothing will be able to stop the advances in the field.

Overall, I think the positives will outweigh the negatives, and we'll see some amazing things going forward.