A Robot that can Build Other Robots

MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld and his students have created a set of five tiny fundamental parts that can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices, including a tiny “walking” motor that can move back and forth across a surface or turn the gears of a machine. They presented their achievement, at an international robotics conference.

The final goal being a kit of just 20 fundamental parts that could be used to assemble all of the different technological products in the world.