Cannibalism among robots (aka open-ended physical adaptation)? Robots are all too human! 😊
"Now, scientists ... have developed robots that can physically “grow,” “heal,” and improve themselves by integrating material from their environment or from other robots. ...
This new paradigm is demonstrated on the Truss Link—a robotic magnet stick inspired by the Geomag toy. A Truss Link is a simple, bar-shaped module equipped with free-form magnetic connectors that can expand, contract, and connect with other modules at various angles, enabling them to form increasingly complex structures. ..."
From the abstract:
"Biological lifeforms can heal, grow, adapt, and reproduce, which are abilities essential for sustained survival and development. In contrast, robots today are primarily monolithic machines with limited ability to self-repair, physically develop, or incorporate material from their environments.
While robot minds rapidly evolve new behaviors through artificial intelligence, their bodies remain closed systems, unable to systematically integrate material to grow or heal.
We argue that open-ended physical adaptation is only possible when robots are designed using a small repertoire of simple modules. This allows machines to mechanically adapt by consuming parts from other machines or their surroundings and shed broken components. We demonstrate this principle on a truss modular robot platform.
We show how robots can grow bigger, faster, and more capable by consuming materials from their environment and other robots. We suggest that machine metabolic processes like those demonstrated here will be an essential part of any sustained future robot ecology."
Robots that Grow by Consuming Other Robots (original news release) "Columbia University researchers introduce a process that allows machines to “grow” physically by integrating parts from their surroundings or from other robots, demonstrating a step towards self-sustaining robot ecologies."
Fig. 1. Robot metabolism allows machines to “grow.”
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