“We
want hundreds of cubes, scattered randomly across the floor, to be able to
identify each other, coalesce, and autonomously transform into a chair or a
ladder”
Dr John Romanishin at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology)’s CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory)
commenting on his research into self assembling robots known as M-Blocks
Looks
like the World’s gonna get taken over a lot quicker than I thought. Dr John
Romanishin along with his colleague and Teacher Professor Daniela Rus and Dr
Hod Lipson, a robotics researcher at Cornell University have developed a set of
modular robots called M-Blocks!
What’s
significant here is that they have achieved what was previously thought to only
be a fantasy from Transformers or even Terminator - semi-autonomous
self-assembling robots as stated in the article “'Terminator'-style
cube robots swarm and self-assemble”, published October 4, 2013 11:26 AM
PDT by Amanda Kooser, CNET News.
Albeit
mere research this development already has me fearful. Only a few days ago I
did an article on Jelly-fish killing robots developed by the Urban Robotics Lab at KAIST (Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology) called JEROS (Jellyfish
Elimination Robotic Swarm Robots) that are self autonomous and able to form
groups to commit Jellyfish Mass murder of Blooms of Jellyfish as described in my
blog article
entitled “Urban
Robotics Lab at KAIST develops the JEROS to Exterminate, Exterminate Jellyfish
- JEROS are the Daleks of Dr. Who to keep Nuclear Reactors Safe in 2014”.
Now
self-assembling autonomous Robots? That assembles without human intervention?
Robots have already being designed that are capable of swarming together, a
fairly easy programming task once each robot is bristling with GPS, Camera, IR
and Laser proximity sensors and pre-assigned order within the group. This is
akin to the group logic that govern how ants, bees, terminates and even coral ,
which are a network of small animals working cooperatively to achieve a set of
common tasks.
What’s
been missing up until now has been the mechanics of making the physical design
of such Robotics. Geometry and miniaturization are important. They have to fit
together in a tessellation that makes a bigger version of themselves that has
the same shape of their smallest unit.
At
the same time they have to be small enough to fit together and thus be
malleable enough to form other shapes. This has bedeviled Design Robotics, but
for the most part has been a mechanical problem, which was solvable, just that
nobody knew how.
How Dr John Romanishin did
it – Having a Magnetic Personality is key
Dr
John Romanishin achieved this feat despite the naysaying commentary coming from
his Professor Daniela Rus and then from her mentor Dr Hod Lipson from Caltech
to eventually rope them into his research as well. And his solution was
blessedly simple as outlined in the article “Surprisingly
simple scheme for self-assembling robots”, published Oct 04, 2013 by Larry
Hardesty, MIT News.
To
quote Professor Daniela Rus, Director of MIT’s (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology)’s CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory):
“It's one of these things that the [modular-robotics] community has been trying
to do for a long time. We just needed a creative insight and somebody who was
passionate enough to keep coming at it—despite being discouraged.”
Dr
John Romanishin two year sojourn of discouragement has now ended in success,
now that they are on target to present a paper on their research at the
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. And their
solution, as many had suspected, was mechanically simple!
To
create locomotion, they built the M-Blocks with the usual Control electronics
and Wi-Fi Communications Circuit Boards typical of swarm bots. But he then
added a flywheel that could spin at up to 20,000 revolutions per minute. Thus
it was able to rotate and move the block without having any external wheels or
legs or any other parts extending from off the M-Block.
Then
he added Cylindrical Magnets, very similar to those found on the Apple iPad’s
magnetic cover. They were polarized along the long axis i.e. half cylinders of
North and South poles and they were attached to all beveled edges of the cube
inside of rotating gimbals.
Thus,
when an M-Block was given a command to move, it did so by a rapid precision
control of the revolution of its internal flywheel using a Servo-Motor, which
in turn spun the entire mass of the M-Block. To move on top of one M-Block to
another, the self-rotating Cylindrical Magnets aligned according to their poles
and thus formed a pivot that supports the full weight of the M-Block so that
when the flywheel was activated, it could pivot on top of another M-Block,
forming structures.
Practical Applications –
Jack and the Beanstalk Cell Tower for inspection is now climbable
Interestingly,
there was an unexpected discovery. Thanks to the presence of the self-aligning
Cylindrical Magnets, the M-Block developed an ability to Jump, often 2 or 3
blocks at a time when forming structures. Also, due to their stability, they
can climb up each other and form very tall and stable structures once the
bottom M-Block in the stack is on a metallic magnetized surface.
This
presents a ready application for their use to assist Astronauts on Spacewalks
with small Tasks at the International Space Station, once specialized M-Blocks
can be developed such as a Camera M-Block and a Welding Torch M-Block can be
developed!
But
the application that I’m interested in and which caught my eye originally was
its jumping and climbing ability for the inspection of Telecom Tower
Maintenance. Normally, if you have a problem with a Microwave Antenna, as a RF
(Radio Frequency) Technician, you have to climb the tower to inspect it before
calling the Riggers.
With
one or even three of these M-Blocks, with one as a Camera M-Block or Tool
M-Block, I could just set them to Climb or jump all the way up the Cell Tower,
usually made of Steel, to inspect and send back pictures to my smartphone.
Thus
the Telecoms Industry finds this product as interesting as even using
Mini-Drones to inspect Cell Sites, as like a battery powered Drone with a
Camera, it can be used to inspect the Cell Tower. The M-Block, however, has the
advantage of being more compact, able to pack little Tools such as an analyzer
or even an Electrical Tester or Frequency analyzer and most importantly, can be
automated to do the inspection of the entire Cell Tower on its own!
Other
fields that involve climbing high places in order to do work will now be
possible, as it means that instead of sending a two (2) man team to check Cell
Sites, Utility Poles or any place that’s located on a vertical climbable
structure that ferrous i.e. made of Iron can be readily inspected and work
undertaken using these M-Blocks, saving the company valuable hours and even
money spent on repair.
M-Block’s Future -
Terminator to help Mankind and great Experimental Robotics Toys
The
dream of the Dr John Romanishin and his M-Block team is fairly simple going
forward with their research into Modular Robotics:
1.
Build an army of 100 M-Block s to work autonomously to
complete assigned tasks without human intervention
2.
Micro-miniaturization of the M-blocks to nanoscopic size i.e.
like Terminator II
3.
Possibly design other M-Blocks but with different Polyhedral
shapes e.g. Tetrahedron, Dodecahedron
These
tasks will require the robots to self-assemble to form useful shapes or even
equiptment as needed to assist humans in areas as diverse as disaster recovery
or even Climbing Cell Towers, my favourite application I'd like to see in their
current oversized shape. Repairing bridges and large structures is a bit of a
stretch, as albeit held together by magnets, they'd have to be much physically
stronger than their current design to withstand any harm that may come to them,
necessitating stronger materials.
To
that end, I’d also like to add that they also need to be programmed with Azimov's Three Rules
of a Robot:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where
such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does
not conflict with the First or Second Law.
I’d
also like to suggest that they be marketed initially as Children's Toys as well
as Open Source Tools for Robotics Engineers at High Schools and Universities
via a Kickstarter or Indiegogo fund to raise money for further Research. Aside
from scientific significance of this Mechanical Design, it also has interesting
commercial prospects as well. Money raised from Crowd-funding, VC (Venture
Capital) Funding as well Research Grants can take this project a long way towards
advancing what I love to call the Robotics of Ants.
Artificial Intelligence in
M-Blocks – Pass the EMP Please
Albeit
I’m not a pessimist, I’m not so comfortable with autonomous Robots, no matter
how much they can help with my work in the Telecoms Field as opined in my blog article
entitled “Google
and AI - I Robot” and “IBM
Watson on Jeopardy and AI's Future - The Matrix meets The Computer Wore Tennis
Shoes”.
AI (Artificial
Intelligence) is great for Driving, as I’d like that though as I think a
Nightrider Talking and Self Driving KITT Car is long overdue as argued in my blog article
entitled “Volvo
Testing Autonomous Motor Vehicles in Spain in Live Traffic - EU Project SARTRE
adds self-driving AI with smartphone Control”.
They
fact they can do so much thinking and talking to each other makes me worry that
one day they’ll rise up and decide that they are superior to me and grind me to
bits with their little M-Block Blowtorches and other miniaturized tools! At
least with an EMP in my company vehicle, I might stand a Chance!
Aside
from my misgivings expressed thus fat, these M-Blocks are more proof of the
concept of Teamwork: ordinary folks accomplishing extraordinary feats. That’s both true for the Dr John Romanishin
and the doubting Thomas’s in his Team as well as the M-Blocks themselves!
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