The Machines Won't Rise: Origami Robots Made To Dissolve In Water

For decades people have been afraid of the darwinian implications of artificial intelligence. If we make robots that are smarter, stronger and more resilient than us, won't they take over as the new apex being on the planet?



MIT to the rescue!



Origami Robots Dissolve in Water, Controlled by Magnetic Fields

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At the recent International Conference on Robotics and Automation, MIT researchers presented a printable origami robot that folds itself up from a flat sheet of plastic when heated and measures about a centimeter from front to back.

Weighing only a third of a gram, the robot can swim, climb an incline, traverse rough terrain, and carry a load twice its weight. Other than the self-folding plastic sheet, the robot’s only component is a permanent magnet affixed to its back. Its motions are controlled by external magnetic fields.

“The entire walking motion is embedded into the mechanics of the robot body,” says Cynthia R. Sung, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science and one of the robot’s co-developers. “In previous [origami] robots, they had to design electronics and motors to actuate the body itself.”

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frick you, machines, we've known how to deal with your kind a long time.