[HN Gopher] Magnetic swarm intelligence of mass-produced, progra...
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       Magnetic swarm intelligence of mass-produced, programmable
       microrobot assemblies
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 85 points
       Date   : 2024-12-26 21:43 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cell.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cell.com)
        
       | biomcgary wrote:
       | Evidently someone is a fan of Big Hero 6.
        
         | move-on-by wrote:
         | Reminds me of the Seveneves book
        
           | ASlave2Gravity wrote:
           | I couldn't put that book down!
        
       | devmor wrote:
       | Very interesting and cool experiments, but I feel like this is
       | stretching the limits of the term "robot" beyond its useful
       | definition, as does the usage of the word "intelligence" for what
       | are assuredly complex little machines, but are ultimately useless
       | without being directly manipulated by a magnet.
        
       | dsjoerg wrote:
       | A more accurate (but less flashy) title might be: "Magnetically
       | actuated swarm assemblies of mass-produced microrobots for task
       | execution" This strips away the unnecessary anthropomorphism and
       | focuses on what the system actually does.
       | 
       | ===
       | 
       | https://chatgpt.com/share/676e293f-f51c-8007-b07a-2cb9d89e9a...
        
         | ecosystem wrote:
         | "Swarm intelligence" doesn't seem a very
         | anthrocentric/anthromorphic concept and the swarm coordination
         | across tasks is the interesting aspect of this paper. Do you
         | think this claim is unfounded? (Edited: typo)
        
         | TJSomething wrote:
         | I'm not sure they're really "actuated". They're definitely
         | programmed by a smart magnet, and then powered by a dumb
         | magnet.
        
       | erulabs wrote:
       | Extremely cool, but also terrifying. Anyone else read all the
       | lore in the Horizon games? It was AI and nano-bot swarms that
       | ended the world there, escaping from a research lab and consuming
       | all organic matter on the surface of the earth. Once the nano bot
       | swarm can build more nano bots...
       | 
       | Still, think of the cool robots we'll get just before the end!
        
         | zakki wrote:
         | I just watched a Stargate Episode when Asgard can't beat the
         | Replicator.
        
           | moffkalast wrote:
           | Look there's nothing cruvus with me!
        
         | thebruce87m wrote:
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo
        
         | caycep wrote:
         | also an episode of black mirror w/ the flies and stuff
        
       | shiroiushi wrote:
       | This sounds much like the "Replicators" from Stargate: SG1.
        
       | reynaldi wrote:
       | If you can think it, the Microbots can do it. The only limit is
       | your imagination. Microbots!
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | "Release The Hypno Drones"
       | 
       | https://universalpaperclips.fandom.com/wiki/HypnoDrones
        
       | dschuetz wrote:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invincible
        
       | sebmellen wrote:
       | Has anyone here read Micro or Prey by Michael Crichton?
       | 
       | > _In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A
       | cloud of nanoparticles--micro-robots--has escaped from the
       | laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing.
       | It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical
       | purposes, it is alive._
        
         | portaouflop wrote:
         | Prey was so good, really entertaining read.
         | 
         | I think that we are a long way from this level of nanobots - we
         | don't even have a regular robot that is somewhat self
         | sustaining (e.g. charges itself with solar power) - so we
         | probably won't need to lose hair over this anytime soon...
        
         | Jerrrry wrote:
         | I'm convinced Michael Crichton was the greatest sci-fi writer
         | after Isaac Asimov.
        
       | virtualritz wrote:
       | Read "The Invincible"[1] from Stanislaw Lem.
       | 
       | Particularly the chapter called "Lauda's hypothesis" about the
       | evolution of the planet's 'necrosphere' of self-organizing
       | insect-like machines.
       | 
       | Curiously magnetism also plays a role in the book.
       | 
       | It's from 1963.
       | 
       | Lem was always eerily accurate with many of his futurist ideas.
       | Even though he didn't want to be seen as a futurist but just as a
       | sci-fi author.
       | 
       | "Weapon systems of the 21st century"[2] is another one of those
       | of his works. Written in 1986 it predicts satellite-mounted use
       | of lasers and 'synsects' (synthetic insects) with swarm
       | intelligence. It also predicts that powerful AI is not needed but
       | (superior) swarm intelligence is enough for battlefield
       | superiority.
       | 
       | I dunno if the latter is even available in English but I guess
       | nowadays you can just ask an LLM to translate the Polish original
       | or the very good German translation to English, if you want to
       | read it. :)
       | 
       | [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invincible
       | 
       | [2]
       | https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffensysteme_des_21._Jahrhu...
        
       | dmje wrote:
       | I can't see "bot" and "swarm" in the same sentence without
       | thinking of Black Mirror and wondering how we went so obviously,
       | terribly wrong
        
       | jnichols35 wrote:
       | If this technology keeps evolving, football[0] could get real
       | interesting.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football/
        
       | notjoemama wrote:
       | When exactly will world leaders realize that this new wave of
       | military research is risky enough to destroy them in their
       | wealthy gated communities? Do they actually have to die and take
       | a percentage of life on this planet with them before they can
       | agree to some form of of altruistic peace agreement? Even if they
       | have escape islands, I think too many people have seen Mad Max
       | and that never ends well for the leaders.
        
         | istorical wrote:
         | Current economic and political systems reward baseless
         | confidence, believing you are better than others (and speaking
         | and acting that way), and hubris.
         | 
         | So maybe it makes sense that our political and economic leaders
         | have false confidence that "everything will be fine, it always
         | has been for me".
        
           | bilbo0s wrote:
           | I think they are more confident that most of the people in
           | society believe in the same hubris. They can all point to
           | some class of people that are lower than them. Don't
           | underestimate the power of that kind of motivation on the
           | masses.
           | 
           | The classes of people on the bottom are usually not numerous
           | nor educated enough to cause a real issue. And if you get
           | _really_ lucky, the hierarchy is somewhat based in ethnicity.
           | People will fight vehemently to support such structures.
           | 
           | Taking advantage of these sorts of motivations has worked to
           | organize and control human societies for millennia. There is
           | absolutely no reason for elites to think it will fail now.
        
       | 383toast wrote:
       | Seems like this would be a first step towards grey goo...
        
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