Shape-shifting magnetic bots take a page out of the Dharma playbook

The research is still in its infancy, but the concept makes have stepped straight out of science fiction. Some friendly folks at Carnegie Mellon University working towards electromagnetic microscopic robots that can cling together, and take virtually any form. The line indicates that the rapid prototyping, the promise of “claytronics,” and the mysterious deaths of the plane crash victims, but current examples of technology are anything but smooth. The main element is that uniting the robots currently under development have no moving parts, the place with the help of magnetic forces to draw around themselves relative to each other. Peep the video after the break for some samples.