Programmable matter is matter which has the ability to change its physical properties (shape, density, moduli, conductivity, optical properties, etc.) in a programmable fashion, based upon user input or autonomous sensing. Programmable matter is thus linked to the concept of a material which inherently has the ability to perform information processing.
Programmable matter is a term originally coined in 1991 by Toffoli and Margolus to refer to an ensemble of fine-grained computing elements arranged in space. Their paper describes a computing substrate that is composed of fine-grained compute nodes distributed throughout space which communicate using only nearest neighbor interactions. In this context, programmable matter refers to compute models similar to cellular automata and lattice gas automata. The CAM-8 architecture is an example hardware realization of this model. This function is also known as "digital referenced areas" (DRA) in some forms of self-replicating machine science.
In the early 1990s, there was a significant amount of work in reconfigurable modular robotics with a philosophy similar to programmable matter.
As semiconductor technology, nanotechnology, and self-replicating machine technology have advanced, the use of the term programmable matter has changed to reflect the fact that
it is possible to build an ensemble of elements which can be "programmed" to change their physical properties in reality, not just in simulation. Thus, programmable matter has come to mean "any bulk substance which can be programmed to change its physical properties."
In the summer of 1998, in a discussion on artificial atoms and programmable matter, Wil McCarthy and G. Snyder coined the term "quantum wellstone" (or simply "wellstone") to describe this hypothetical but plausible form of programmable matter. McCarthy has used the term in his fiction.
In 2002, Seth Goldstein and Todd Mowry started the claytronics project at Carnegie Mellon University to investigate the underlying hardware and software mechanisms necessary to realize programmable matter.
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Gray goo (also spelled as grey goo) is a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass on Earth while building many more of themselves, a scenario that has been called ecophagy . The original idea assumed machines were designed to have this capability, while popularizations have assumed that machines might somehow gain this capability by accident.
Programmable matter is matter which has the ability to change its physical properties (shape, density, moduli, conductivity, optical properties, etc.) in a programmable fashion, based upon user input or autonomous sensing. Programmable matter is thus linked to the concept of a material which inherently has the ability to perform information processing. Programmable matter is a term originally coined in 1991 by Toffoli and Margolus to refer to an ensemble of fine-grained computing elements arranged in space.
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.
The form and structure of biological tissues define their function. The emergence of tissue morphology during development is one of the wonders of nature. Cells mechanically probe and manipulate their
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Epithelia are contiguous sheets of cells that stabilize the shape of internal organs and support their structure by covering their surfaces. They acquire diverse morphological forms appropriate for th