WOW... What a robot

[sciencenerd]

Originally Posted by Aburame Shino

Reminds me of the living stairs from the Harry Potter movies. As cool as that thing is though, what would you use it for besides your own personal amusement? I'm sure there's something, but I can't really think of anything.

I read an article about these a few months ago, I can't remember where. This is a proof of concept. It isn't intended to do anything itself, just to show what is possible. For example, you could have different "manipulator" attachments as well as "movement" cubes, and it could pick the best shape and manipulator for a given task, then quickly switch to a new one for a new task. The possibilities are endless.

Originally Posted by phronist

Imagine them as 1mm cubes... make your own manipulator! Since they can replicate themsevles, you can vary the degree of precision of a specific peice easily!

Actually, these things can't replicate... yet. However, is it possible? Yes. And that is what will make these things truly useful. People have been demonstrating nano scale creations for years. And now they have a macro-scale completely modular robotic system. All that remains to be done is integrate these two technologies, and they will become powerful. Add in self-replication, and they will be unstoppable.