Half Man, Half Machine

Giant chip manufacturer Intel has announced a breakthrough in the development of robots that can reconfigure themselves into different forms. These adaptable robots could potentially morph, depending on the task at hand. In a split second your computer screen could transform itself into a portable communications device. But before you start picturing terrifying War of the Worlds type scenarios, fear not! These robots are programmable and the brains at Intel are confident that this technology will play a major part in our everyday lives in the not too distant future

Until now the vision of adaptable robots has been confined to the realms of science fiction. Scientists have been developing these shape-shifting robots for a number of years but their prototypes have been clunky. Now the technological world is currently witnessing a huge progression in the scaling down of these robots, or ‘catoms’, as they are known by those in the know. Microscopic ‘catoms’ will be far more advanced than their current oversized counterparts as it will be possible to combine millions of these mini-robots together to form some truly impressive and intuitive devices. ‘Polybot’ is the poster-bot of its generation. The California based shape-shifting robot that can walk, glide and climb!

There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome in terms of fitting the necessary technology into these tiny mechanisms. Developers are currently working on cramming in enough intelligence into the tiny grain-of-sand sized chips so that they know how to morph into new gadgets and gizmos. But within a few years this new breed of shape shifting machines could well and truly revolutionize modern life as we know it!