It’s something you only see in cartoons–shape-shifting clusters of microscopic robots with amazing powers. But it’s not pure sci-fi after all. NASA is already testing the robot predecessor for these nano-sized swarms:

Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are one step closer to a technology that’s straight out of the realm of animated superheroes: microscopic robots that travel together forming a constantly rolling and shifting mass.

Currently, they’re conducting tests on a robot they aim to shrink to nanobot size (the prefix “nano” stands for one-billionth; thus, a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). The miniaturized robot will eventually become part of what NASA dubs “autonomous nanotechnology swarms” (ANTS). The researchers plan to imbue ANTS with artificial intelligence so they could excel at decision-making as well as intuitively know when and how to walk and swarm.

A nanobot swarm would have “abundant flexibility,” according to NASA, changing its shape as the situation requires. For instance, to make it through the Martian atmosphere, it could become an aerodynamic shield. Then when it reaches the Red Planet’s surface, it could turn into a snake-like form, sliding over rough terrain. It could also sprout an antenna when it needs to transmit data.

What’s more, it could repair itself and continue functioning even when it sustains damage. Just think of how human bodies supplant damaged cells with new ones, says Steven Curtis, lead researcher for ANTS, a joint project of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “In a similar way, undamaged units in a (nanobot) swarm will join together, allowing it to tolerate extensive damage and still carry on its mission,” he says.

For more on the exciting–almost fantastical–promise of nanotechnology, check out this primer.

Source:

NASA Turning Nanobot Swarm from Fiction Into Science
Robert C. Cowen, The Christian Science Monitor
USA Today, April 7, 2005
www.usatoday.com/tech/news/robotics/2005-04-07-ants-nasa_x.htm?POE=click-refer