🦾 NASA robot uses LEGO-like metamaterials to build space habitat

NASA researchers created a robotic system that can autonomously build resilient structures from modular hollow blocks, then efficiently rearrange components as needed. Using simple robots and lattice-based “metamaterials,” the autonomous assembly process constructed a sturdy 256-unit shelter.

The complexity of this software’s programmable matter algorithms allows for simplicity in the hardware, and this demonstration showcases how scalable robotic structures could print on-demand structures from composite materials in extreme environments. Learn more about how NASA designed robots to achieve this feat in today’s Must Read.

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By coordinating robots to transport and connect interlocking thermoplastic blocks or “voxels,” NASA built customizable habitats with radiation shielding that outperform their conventional counterparts in strength-to-weight. Rather than rely on intricate sensors, path planning algorithms allowed multiple agents to collaborate on manipulating the material as programmable matter.

The resulting shelter construction served as a resilient space habitat prototype. NASA also foresees various terrestrial applications, such as disaster relief shelters, modular infrastructure, and adaptive architecture. With ultra-light buildings printable remotely then assembled by swarms, logistic challenges are greatly reduced. And by enabling robotic disassembly for component reuse, the technology sustains material life cycles rather than scrap waste. Click below to see how NASA’s researchers achieved this.

South Korea plans the world’s first facility that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while generating fresh water from the sea, tackling the issues of regional drought and carbon emissions simultaneously. By creatively using the brine waste produced by the process, the project succeeds at realizing circular sustainability for the petrochemical industry.

UC San Diego researchers created flexible brain sensors 5 times thinner than a human hair for recording neurological activity deeper than previously possible. This major enhancement in precision enables better resolution that assists diagnosis and treatment across a range of neurological diseases. It’s also minimally invasive, which gives it a major clinical advantage over less precise techniques. Learn how these tiny sensors open up new clinical possibilities.

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