Claytronics

Dubbed Claytronics by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), this is an emerging field of Engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots ( claytronic atoms , or catoms ) designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. Also known as programmable matter , the catoms are said to eventually have the ability to morph into nearly any object, even replicas of human beings for virtual meetings.

According to CMU s Synthetic Reality Project personnel, Claytronics are described as:

# An ensemble of material that contains sufficient local computation # actuation # storage # energy # sensing & communication

Which can be programmed to form interesting dynamic shapes and configurations.

=External Links=

[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics The Synthetic Reality Project at CMU] [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05136/505033.stm Article in the Post-Gazette] [http://www.geekinformed.com/content/view/337/1/ Internet Teleportation Device Inspired by Claytronics from GeekInformed.com] This