The Energon Pub

News Credits: 730 · by **Raymond T.** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:09 pm

UK based The Daily Mail has reported a rather interesting article on their site. According to their article, Brittish scientists have taken the first step in producing real-life, shape changing robots with Artificial Intelligence.

The experiment will cost 4.6 million brittish pounds (aprox. 8 million US Dollars/ 5.5 million Euro). Each individual robot will be about the size of a sugar cube, but like the gestalt combiners in Transformers, they can link together to form bigger robots. The idea is that these Transformers could aid in medical applications, space exploration and even search and rescue missions. It is estimated that these robots could be put to use in as little as 5 years from now.

"The robots have functionality on their own, but they can also combine together or adapt and change as the situation requires. The individual robots won't change physically, but they will adapt and evolve their functionality. Once the robots come together they will be more versatile - like a colony of cells such as those found in a jelly fish or a sponge. The different robots will co-operate to create the larger organism. In a sponge even if there is damage to some parts, the overall organism still survives. In this way the artificial robotic organisms might in theory become self-configuring, self-healing and self-optimising from both hardware and software perspectives".

News Credits: 2 · by **Autobotic9** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:15 pm

flippin' sweet.

News Credits: 8 · by **Liege Evilmus** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:19 pm

I remember seeing a guy on Discovery once who could make nongestalt robots out of a broken walkman and a hanger who said his bots could have the same aplications, they worked great too!

So I'm saying lets find a clip of that guy, put a big screen on top of a bus playing it, then drive past some homeless with this article writen across our collective mooning asses!

Why help them when we can have sugar cubed sized working toys

News Credits: 7 · by **Omega Charge** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:22 pm

And then the AI goes a little too far, and before we know it, we have an outbreak of war, inside your body!

News Credits: 387 · by **Nekoman** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:24 pm

I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a really, really bad thing.

News Credits: 730 · by **Raymond T.** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:27 pm

Omega Charge wrote:And then the AI goes a little too far, and before we know it, we have an outbreak of war, inside your body!

"And then, one fateful night,... Megatron was born!"

by **Keeperofthespark** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:28 pm

Awesome! How cool is it to hear that what you love could and can happen in reality?

by **Wheelimus Prime** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:34 pm

id buy em even though we may never get to

News Credits: 4 · by **capellamusic** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:41 pm

...and then they built Cybertron. Who said the Transformers were created by Quintesons? The Humans are creating them

.

News Credits: 2 · by **Ultra Magnus** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:59 pm

...

News Credits: 8 · by **Megatron Wolf** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:04 pm

One step closer to skynet.

by **Defcon!** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:08 pm

Megatron_Wolf wrote:One step closer to skynet.

Here! Here! We're all doomed!

News Credits: 1 · by ***Galvatron*** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:17 pm

Megatron_Wolf wrote:One step closer to skynet.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :lol:

Skynet is what I call our MCP or master control program at work, it's called "Lawson"... yes two pop culture references in one post, Skynet from Terminator and MCP from Tron

How scary is it that there is an actual tab/page in Lawson that does say "MCP interface" ? :shock:

We freaking HATE Lawson!

by **Outrider2000** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:47 pm

Anything regarding AI scares me, Ive watched enough Sci Fi to know that right after that? complete mass human extinction, then we all have to live underground and fight the robots.

actaully now that i think about it, sounds pretty cool :lol:

News Credits: 7 · by **Chaoslock** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:56 pm

Why sugar-cube sized? It's just an instinct in me, but the smaller dangerous living things are, the more I hate them...

Build me a human-sized robot, that I can punch!

News Credits: 2 · by **GreenLantern of Cybertron** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:35 pm

I have a scene in my head now of a flood of little scurrying sugarcube robots swarming across roads devouring everything (cars, houses, people) for more resources to make more sugarcube-bots.

News Credits: 32 · by **UltraPrimal** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:02 pm

It's blood-thusty minicons come to life!

by **devil prime** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:19 pm

well we're one step closer to the robot apocalypse

by **Decatron** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:24 am

There's not enough energy on earth for reallife Transformers and humans

News Credits: 2 · by **First-Aid** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:02 am

Why can't we have tiny robots doing USEFUL things...like making beer! And making beer! And making MORE beer! And making MUFFINS!

by **Outrider2000** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:40 am

devil prime wrote::shock: well we're one step closer to the robot apocalypse

exactly. but hey, at least the apocalypse has robots...

News Credits: 42 · by **Psychout** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:02 am

Woohoo!! Bring on the robot apocalypse!

I always knew if this world was going to be destroyed properly, it would be us Brits that would have to do it. :twisted:

News Credits: 3 · by **Autobot Jazz** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:51 am

Nekoman wrote:I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a really, really bad thing.

Depends, are they smart enough to program Autobots or stupid enough to try and make some Decepticons?

News Credits: 730 · by **Raymond T.** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:49 am

UltraPrimal wrote:It's blood-thusty minicons come to life!

I was thinking more along the lines of Scraplets.

News Credits: 409 · by **Stormrider** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:15 am

Chaoslock wrote:It's just an instinct in me, but the smaller dangerous living things are, the more I hate them...

Build me a man-sized robot, that I can punch!

- This cracked me up.