Robotic Nanotech Swarms on Mars... in 2034
April 8, 2005 - General
(via slashdot)
If you've read Blood Music or Prey, you may find this somewhat disturbing, but it seems that tests of the TETwalker robot have gone well enough that NASA will be proceeding with miniaturizing them. Really really tiny.
These miniature TETwalkers, when joined together in "swarms," will have great advantages over current systems. The swarm has abundant flexibility so it can change its shape to accomplish highly diverse goals. For example, while traveling through a planet's atmosphere, the swarm might flatten itself to form an aerodynamic shield. Upon landing, it can shift its shape to form a snake-like swarm and slither away over difficult terrain. If it finds something interesting, it can grow an antenna and transmit data to Earth. Highly-collapsible material can also be strung between nodes for temperature control or to create a deployable solar sail.
So the robots swarm together to form ANTS, which scientists hope to send to Mars by 2034. It's promising technology, but just a bit frightening.
Comments on Robotic Nanotech Swarms on Mars... in 2034
Cameras in supermarket parking lots just aren't enough, I guess.
As for nanotech, the medical potential is incredible. Of course, since it's always easier to destroy than to build, I expect we'll see weapons that make nuclear and even bioweapons look like flint axes. Such weapons could be targeted to certain racial groups by means of some sort of DNA fingerprinting. Unless they mutate on their own. Dealing with AI people over the years has led me to believe that letting nature take its course may be the true danger, since we've demonstrated that "nature" need not be "natural."
Dr. Crichton really just scratched the surface with his discussion of emergent behavior in _Prey_. Psychologists and the AI people have been beating this to death since the 1950s.
Welcome to the future.