Graduate student Ken Nakagaki’s tiny transformable robots, called Hermits, have changeable mechanical shells that allow the robots to acquire new capabilities, reports Mark Wilson for Fast Company. The Hermits project has been selected as the winner of Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design Awards in the Student category.
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe writes about the self-folding robots designed by a team from MIT and Harvard. “The question is, can we develop the tools that will allow us to automatically and rapidly generate one robot for any task?” says Professor Daniela Rus.
Robert Lee Hotz of The Wall Street Journal writes that researchers from MIT and Harvard have developed of prototype of a, “flexible, self-assembling machine.” Potential applications for the technology include everything from self-assembling satellites to shape-shifting search-and-rescue robots.
In a piece for USA Today, Hoai-Tran Bui writes about how a team of researchers from MIT and Harvard have developed a robot that can self-assemble from a flat sheet of paper in minutes. "The big dream is to make robots fast and inexpensive," says Prof. Daniela Rus.
Slate reporter Boer Deng writes about the self-assembling robot developed by scientists from MIT and Harvard. The robot, “forms itself, Transformer-like, from a flat sheet into a four-legged creature that crawls,” Deng writes.
Joe Kloc of Newsweek writes about how MIT and Harvard scientists have developed a self-assembling robot that folds itself into a 3-D robot capable of movement. "We have achieved a long-standing personal goal to design a machine that can assemble itself," says Prof. Daniela Rus of the project.
Ian Sample of The Guardian reports on how a team of researchers from MIT and Harvard have developed a “Transformer” robot that can self-assemble. "This will rapidly extend the manufacturing capabilities that we have today where configuring an assembly line is done manually and requires a lot of time," Prof. Daniela Rus explains.
Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Yuan writes about the OrigamiUSA convention and Professor Erik Demaine’s talk about his work designing multi-functional origami systems that can be programmed. “You can imagine a piece of furniture that turns into a chair, folds into an umbrella, anything you want,” Demaine explains.