{"id":174,"date":"2012-12-04T12:54:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T12:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dave0.nfshost.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2012\/12\/04\/the-real-story-is-the-motor-not-the-robot\/"},"modified":"2012-12-04T12:54:29","modified_gmt":"2012-12-04T12:54:29","slug":"the-real-story-is-the-motor-not-the-robot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-real-story-is-the-motor-not-the-robot\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Story is the Motor, not the Robot"},"content":{"rendered":"

This lil self-molding robot came out of a DARPA-funded project at MIT to build “programmable matter” (in a non-nanotech context free of grey goo risks<\/a>). I keep seeing it hyped online as the first steps towards a real Transformer, which I guess is a neat link-bait hook, but no doubt leads to plenty of disappointed link-followers who click through only to see what amounts to a pretty slow robo-worm. But watch the video, because the legitimately exciting lede is getting buried: In order to build the worm these MIT poindexters had to invent a new kind of super-small gearless motor that holds its position even after power is removed, making for a sort of electromechanical e-ink<\/a>. It’s a far cry from a Transformer, but really promising in construction, for example, where these tiny motors could control vents and blinds to regulate temperatures, controlling air flow and how much sun chines directly into a building, rather than clicking the HVAC off and on constantly to jockey the temperature.
\n