In some of the old science fiction stories I remember from Weird Tales and Ray Bradbury and the like, robots always figured. But they always came the way you might expect a new dryer or hot water heater to arrive. In a big box, packed in straw or foam, heavy and metal of course as they always were back in the day. But the world of robots is different from the way they imagined it then: the metallic golems of yore have given way to a sort of Cambrian explosion of potential robot types, imitating everything from worm to dog to bird. A team of researchers hopes to both expand that robodiversity and change the way our future companions are delivered. Funded by the NSF, they've begun a 5-year-long project exploring the idea of on-demand robots. MIT is leading the effort, specifically Professor Daniela Rus from CSAIL. They have researchers from University of Pennsylvania and Harvard on the team, and the object is to "make it possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a mat
Researchers from three of the US's leading universities are teaming up on a $10m project to revolutionise robot production.
Tue 10 Apr 12 from BBC News
Print-your-own-robots developed, Wed 4 Apr 12 from BBC Technology
Already, people are pretty excited at the idea of being able to create inanimate objects using a 3D printer. Imagine, though, if you could create and print an actual moving robot, using a printer-like ...
Tue 3 Apr 12 from Gizmag
Imagine going to a local store, picking out a design for a robot to help with some household chores, and having the device built within a matter of hours.
Tue 3 Apr 12 from Phys.org
The goal is to develop technology to allow an average person to design, customize, and print a functioning robot in a matter of hours
Tue 3 Apr 12 from IEEE Spectrum
It seems 3-D printing is growing into a phenomenon, and rightfully so. We’ve seen jaw bones perfectly reconstructed and used as medical implants, and even nanoscale objects masterfully ...
Mon 9 Apr 12 from ZME Science
A project called "An Expedition in Computing Printable Programmable Machines" at MIT is working to create a future where you can print robots as easily and efficiently as Kinko's makes copies. ...
Fri 6 Apr 12 from Geek.com
The aim of this project is to build robots on demand, sometimes for specific tasks, using 3-D printing technology.
Wed 4 Apr 12 from Discovery.com
Want a robot slave to do the work you don't want to? Soon it could be as simple as printing it out.
Wed 4 Apr 12 from Extremetech
In some of the old science fiction stories I remember from Weird Tales and Ray Bradbury and the like, robots always figured. But they always came the way you might expect a new dryer or hot ...
Tue 3 Apr 12 from TechCrunch