A reconfigurable miniature robot December 4, 2012 MIT scientists
have designed a little device called a “milli-motein”
(millimeter-sized components and a motorized design inspired by
proteins, which naturally fold themselves into incredibly
complex shapes) that may be a harbinger of future devices that
could fold themselves up into almost any shape imaginable. The
device was conceived by Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT’s Center
for Bits and Atoms, visiting scientist Ara Knaian and
postdoctoral associate Kenneth Cheung. “It’s effectively a one-
dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip,
without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into
arbitrary shapes,” Gershenfeld says: An ‘electropermanent’ motor
To build the world’s smallest chain robot, the team had to
invent an entirely new kind of motor: not only small and strong,
but also able to hold its position firmly even with power
switched off. The researchers met these needs with a new system
called an electropermanent motor. The motor is sim