ROBO-MOM.Imagine a world where robots re-create themselves--without the help of humans. Sound like a scenario only Hollywood could create? Not so, says computer scientist Hod Lipson at Brandeis University Brandeis University, at Waltham, Mass.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1948. Although Brandeis was founded by members of the American Jewish community, the university operates as an independent, nonsectarian institution. in Waltham, Mass. Last summer, Lipson and his colleague Jordan Pollack pollack: see cod. pollack or pollock Either of two commercially important North Atlantic species of food fish in the cod family (Gadidae). developed the world's flint robot to design and build another robot! "It took us about two years to create," says Lipson. The "mother robot" still needs a helping human hand to put the final touches on its creation--like plugging in the newborn's motors and microchips (tiny plastic chips wired with electronic components). But improved models will soon be able to "reproduce" without human help. The invention, Pollack says, could lead to a workforce of "humanoid robots" smart enough to design and build everyday machines like personal computers and dishwashers. How do you get a robot to create another robot? "We taught the robot to mimic the process in nature called natural selection, which allows generations of living things Living Things may refer to:
First, they armed the mother robot with basic physics and engineering know-how using a computer program, a detailed set of instructions the computer translates into a series of numbers. On its own, the robot then designed thousands of blueprints for "baby robots" and crunched complex math problems to predict how far and how fast each robot would move in the real world. By churning out hundreds of generations of robot blueprints--selecting and reproducing only those that tested better than average--Robo-Mom was able to create a design for the perfect offspring. Next, it sent its building instructions to a small machine that Pollack says is like "a cross between an inkjet printer A printer that propels droplets of ink directly onto the medium. Today, almost all inkjet printers produce color. Low-end inkjets use three ink colors (cyan, magenta and yellow), but produce a composite black that is often muddy. and a Play-Doh factory." It spit out Verb 1. spit out - spit up in an explosive manner splutter, sputter cough out, cough up, expectorate, spit up, spit out - discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth 2. and assembled plastic pieces of the baby robot, including movable joints mov·a·ble joint n. 1. A joint in which the opposing bony surfaces are covered with a layer of hyaline cartilage or fibrocartilage and in which some degree of free movement is possible. and limbs. So far, the baby bot (1) (roBOT) A program used on the Internet that performs a repetitive function such as posting a message to multiple newsgroups or searching for information or news. Bots are used to provide comparison shopping. Bots also keep a channel open on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC). can only crawl forward, but improved models will be able to perform more complicated tasks, like walking upstairs. Worried about a future world of robotic Frankensteins? Relax, says Pollack: "I don't believe it's possible for a machine to get out of control and start eating old fax machines to make babies." |
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