The new field will combine biology, bio-engineering and nanotechnology to create a flexible breed of robots capable of performing tasks requiring greater mobility, such as search and rescue missions or repair and maintenance during space exploration missions.
"Our overall goal is to develop systems and devices -- soft-bodied robots -- based on biological materials and on the adaptive mechanisms found in living cells, tissues and whole organisms," said co-director David Kaplan, a professor of biomedical engineering.
(Via KurzweilAI.net.)
All very reminiscent of the "piezoplastic" and "moldies" from Rudy Rucker's "Ware" novels. The future looks bright for pervo fleshers!
2 comments:
I was recently listening to a download of the "Musical Languages" episode of NPR's Radio Lab and came across David Cope's work. Short version, it's a computer program he develped (in the 80s, no less!) that can compose music in the style of any of your favorite classical music all-stars - Bach, Mahler etc.
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