Known as M-Blocks, the robots are self-assembling cubes with no external moving parts. Nonetheless, they are able to climb over and around one another, leap through the air, roll across the ground, and even move while suspended upside down from metallic surfaces.
Inside each M-Block is a flywheel that can reach speeds of 20,000 RPM (revolutions per minute); when the flywheel is braked, it imparts its angular momentum to the cube. On each edge of an M-Block, and on every face, are cleverly arranged permanent magnets that allow any two cubes to attach to each other.
[alert type=”yellow”]Sources: Video courtesy of Melanie Gonick and MIT News. Featured image by M. Scott Brauer.[/alert]
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, anyone? Leave a comment below! 😛
