[HN Gopher] Ultralight, strong, and self-reprogrammable mechanic...
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Ultralight, strong, and self-reprogrammable mechanical
metamaterials
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 50 points
Date : 2024-01-24 17:04 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.science.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org)
| bondarchuk wrote:
| While I don't really get what motivates calling this a
| "metamaterial" as opposed to simply a "modular building system",
| it's still extremely cool. Watching the video was a real
| rollercoaster going from "hey it's not just a single robot arm
| but an autonomous bot walking on the structure" to "hey there's
| another one walking _inside_ the structure ".
| api wrote:
| I was chatting with a friend a long time ago about what,
| hypothetically, we thought we might find if we actually did
| encounter extraterrestrial technology from something millions or
| billions of years older than ourselves.
|
| My thought was: software defined matter. This would be matter
| structured down to nano-scales or even below into the realm of
| the subatomic such that its characteristics and behavior can be
| dialed in with a software update. There would be no such thing as
| a bill of materials. To manufacture something just get a bunch of
| this stuff and load the right firmware into it. It could also
| likely self-reconfigure dynamically, at least to some extent,
| though one might see some cases where certain forms become
| limiting in the same way that stem cell differentiation is not
| always reversible.
|
| The protomolecule from The Expanse is maybe the closest thing
| I've seen in fiction.
| genman wrote:
| I think there are elements of this in many places but the focus
| is not explicitly on these details. It mainly revolves around
| some form of armor.
| satori99 wrote:
| Alastair Reynolds _Revelation Space_ novels describe a near
| future where humanity has achieved a similar level of molecular
| tech they called `Quickmatter`.
|
| Entire cities are built with it, until a particularly nasty
| virus which makes no distinction between biological or
| molecular machines (or even software), becomes an existential
| problem.
|
| https://revelationspace.fandom.com/wiki/Quickmatter
| dekhn wrote:
| BTW the latest Reynolds book set in that universe was just
| released: https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Vendetta-Prefect-
| Dreyfus-Emer... although IMHO nothing will ever beat Chasm
| City which is based around the alien nanoscale virus.
| devindotcom wrote:
| You might want to read "His Master's Voice" or "Roadside
| Picnic" by Stanislaw Lem. The first one especially concerns
| what you're talking about, and the second (basis for "Stalker")
| is a little more of a tangent on it. Same for "Solaris"
| honestly. Lem's perspective on cosmic unknowable intelligence
| was really unique.
| dekhn wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_Plenty_of_Room_at_th...
| and what Drexler wrote after.
|
| Note: feynman challenged engineers to make an engine 1/64th of
| inch (cubed) and it was done in 1960 using conventional
| microscale tooling of the time.
|
| Also, lithography was a much more profitable approach to
| nanoscale than tiny machines, at least so far.
| devindotcom wrote:
| Some more at NASA:
|
| https://www.nasa.gov/general/robot-team-builds-high-performa...
|
| And I wrote it up here with some extra context from the creators:
|
| https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/17/nasas-robotic-self-assembl...
|
| The work is very much ongoing. I think the terminology is a
| little odd (I already have a settled definition for
| "metamaterials") but it's a pretty smart system. Combine with
| something that can coat it with a layer of regolith cement and
| you have a great start for a habitat when humans get there a year
| or two later.
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