Claytronics

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Dubbed "Claytronics" by Carnegie Mellon University, 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 Carnegie Mellon's Synthetic Reality Project personnel, Claytronics are described as:

1. An ensemble of material that contains sufficient local computation
2. actuation
3. storage
4. energy
5. sensing & communication

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

[edit] External links

• The Synthetic Reality Project at Carnegie Mellon
• "'Programmable matter' one day could transform itself into all kinds of look-alikes" in the Post-Gazette
• "'Teleporting' over the internet" on BBC
• "Claytronics and the Pario World" on WorldChanging