Scientists Create Robots That Self-replicate

Posted on May 16, 2005

A group of scientists at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab have invented a way for robots to self-replicate. The scientists say an advanced form of the technology might allow robots to repair themselves which could be very useful on a robot-only space mission where there are no humans to repair damaged robots.

Pleasant Morning Buzz points out a frightening science fiction scenario involving robot replication (the Replicators from StarGate). A Faq on the project website attempts to provide an answer to the question: Could the robots proliferate out of control? The scientists say:

These robots were programmed to stop after two generations, because we wanted to show just a proof of concept. Also, they cannot reproduce without a supply of power and more cubes provided at the right place and at the right time, so they are fairly constrained and under control. So there is no danger they will "take over the world". Other forms of artificial self-replication can be more concerning - computer viruses and genetically modified crops, for example, are less controllable. Ray Kurzweil has an interesting discussion on the Ethics and concerns of self-replication technologies.

ROBOTS