Claytronics, if smart robots are in O(scary), then this is in Omega(scary^{scary})

Picture this:
- Imagine a day when you can make your cell phone smaller to fit more comfortably in your pocket, then make it larger so you can text more easily.
- Imagine that you could make your cell phone take the shape of a headset when you want to talk on it or re-shape it like a bracelet so you can wear it while jogging
- Now imagine a robot that could take different shapes depending on a certain line in its code.
Well, imagining time is over because Intel and CMU are now working to create programmable matter. This is how it works, take millions of millimeter-sized robots and enable them, through software and electromagnetic forces, to take on various shapes and sizes. The programmable matter is called claytronics and the tiny robots are called catoms. Each catom will have its own processor. Think of each catom as a tiny robot or computer that has computational power, memory and the ability to store and share power. Then program millions of catoms to work together, much like a swarm of bees or a flock of birds (and this is not ant-colony algorithm btw). Developers are focused on creating software that will focus on a pattern or overall movement of the system of tiny robots. Then each robot will be smart enough to detect its own place in the pattern and respond accordingly. If, for instance, a catom, or robot, detects that it has only one other catom beside it, it will know that it's on an end and can act according to what the end piece should be doing.

And it gets even better, it also could mean that instead of looking at images on a screen, gamers could have animated figures running around their houses(right on the face of project Natal). And instead of calling your co-worker to discuss something, a 3D facsimile of him or her could sit in your office and discuss a new project or the next year's budget.

The challenges involved include creating new programming languages, algorithms and debugging tools to get these massive systems to work together any a host of other things. But this on one dimension of robotics bound to revolutionize life as we know it.



credits: computerworld and acm