If you want to send a large number of robots into space, you face two choices: one is to choose full-size robots with different shapes, and the other is to choose micro modular robots. Obviously, the latter is more preferred. For example, the micro magnetic robot used by the villains in the movie big hero 6 is a modular robot, and their ability in self-assembly and reconstruction is particularly promising.

Photo note: Miniature modular robot in the movie “super Marine Corps” (source: CG99. CN)

For more than 30 years, roboticists have been pursuing the vision of modular self reconfigurable robots. This robot has significant advantages in adaptability, scalability and robustness. Its application fields include space exploration, reconfigurable environment, search and rescue and deformable user interface. However, although people are ambitious to achieve rapid and reliable deployment and expand modular robots to these important fields, the modular robots manufactured so far still face the great challenge of poor scalability.

A large number of large, complex and expensive mechanical parts inevitably appear clumsy, which hinders the development of miniaturization and scalability. Especially in space exploration, building objects in orbit is quite challenging, and it is likely that the input is not proportional to the output. Moreover, the living environment of astronauts on the international space station is very narrow, and the furniture of the space station has to be placed compactly in the best direction like Tetris. Therefore, miniaturization technology is very important. It can provide more maneuvering space for astronauts and reduce the cost of rocket payload. Therefore, we urgently need more scalable architectures in quantity and size.

Recently, a study by the computer science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of MIT has solved the problems of cost and size of reconfigurable robots by using electromagnetism.

The research team drew some inspiration from the film “super Marine Corps” and created a cube shaped robot that can be assembled into complex shapes through arrangement and combination. Instead of stuffing bulky and expensive actuators into a single module, they embedded small, easy to manufacture and inexpensive electromagnets into the edge of the cube. The mutual repulsion and attraction between these electromagnets enable the robots to rotate and move each other and change their shape rapidly.

The cube robot, named “electrovoxels”, has a single side length of about 60 mm. The magnet consists of ferrite cores wrapped in copper wire (they look like small black tubes). Inside each cube are miniature printed circuit boards and electronic devices that can deliver current to electromagnets in the right direction. It only costs more than 60 cents an hour to make a cube.

Unlike the traditional hinge, which requires mechanical connection between two components, electrovoxels is completely wireless, does not need special physical mechanism, and can be dynamically formed between any pair of electromagnets, which makes the maintenance and manufacturing of large-scale systems easier.

Electrovoxels is a robot cube that can be reconstructed using electromagnets. It does not require a motor or propellant to move and can operate in microgravity

So how do such a pile of modules interact? For better visualization, scientists used a software planner to visualize the reconstruction process and calculate the underlying electromagnetic distribution. Users can manipulate up to 1000 cubes with just a few clicks, or use predefined scripts to encode multiple consecutive rotations. Such a system allows users to play with the module at will within a reasonable range. For example, you can change its speed, highlight the magnet, and display the necessary actions to avoid collision. You can also change the shape of the modules like a magician, so that they can appear as a chair at a certain time, and then become a sofa.

Note: the cube is reconstructed from chair to table and sofa

These low-cost small modules are especially suitable for microgravity environment. Because in this environment, any structure you want to launch into orbit needs to be installed in the launch rocket. After the preliminary test on the air floating platform, the researchers conducted microgravity flight test. With the help of better space exploration tools, such as propellant free reconstruction or changing the inertial characteristics of the spacecraft, elextrovoxels found the real state of weightlessness.

The advantage of propellant free drive is that we no longer need to launch additional fuel for reconfiguration, which solves many challenges in launch mass and volume. Therefore, we can expect that this reconfigurable method can assist a variety of space exploration work in the future, such as enhancing and replacing space structures in multiple launches, using temporary structures to assist spacecraft inspection and astronauts, and using the cube iterated in the future as a self sorting storage container.

Dario IZZO, head of the European Space Agency’s advanced concept team (ACT), said:

“Electrovoxels shows how to design a fully reconfigurable system and presents a challenge to our scientific community, that is, how to have a fully functional modular robot system in space orbit. This study demonstrates the convenience of electromagnetically driven rotating cubes in construction, operation and maintenance, and realizes a flexible, modular and scalable system Reconfigurable system, which will bring inspiration to the design of intelligent components in future exploration tasks. “

Like uniform Tetris, cubes must follow a sequence in order to move. A polarization sequence consists of three steps: launching, moving and capturing. Each stage has a moving legislative body (for moving), a starting point (where the moving cube launches) and a destination (capturing the moving cube). Users of the software can specify which cube rotates in which direction, and the algorithm will automatically calculate the order and address of the required electromagnetic distribution (repulsion, attraction or shutdown).

In the future, the application scenario of modular robot will be from

After graduating from Nanjing University, Yuan Hui, 31, gave up his superior life and decent work in his hometown Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, and went to baishaping primary school in Badong, Hubei Province, more than 1000 kilometers away to support teaching alone. He stayed in the mountains for six years. Hotan County, on the southern edge of Taklimakan Desert, has a monthly dust fall of more than 600 tons per square kilometer. Locals have left here one after another, but three post-90s graduate students from Chongqing Jiaotong University “went upstream”. They formed a “grass planting” team and vowed to return an oasis in this vast desert.

The 9 in-depth observation character documentaries will meet the audience through mango TV in turn. The second season of the youth documentary blockbuster “live up to youth and live up to the village” commemorating the 100th anniversary of the May 4th Movement will be officially launched on Mango TV at 10 a.m. on May 2 and broadcast on Hunan Economic television channel at 18:20 p.m. on May 3.

Focus on young people and feel the hot-blooded youth on the front line of poverty alleviation

“Live up to youth and live up to the village” is a series of documentaries with the theme of “Rural Revitalization Strategy” jointly launched by mango TV and Hunan Radio and television economic and television channel. Facing the grand proposition of “Rural Revitalization Strategy”, the program does not focus on explaining its concept, but focuses on a group of promising young people who are engaged in China’s rural construction and tell them about their going deep into the countryside A story of practicing the value of youth for the construction of a new countryside and letting dreams bloom in the countryside.

The second season of the upcoming program has more innovations and upgrades on the basis of the first season broadcast last year. To record more characters on the spot and present more real programs; More prominent young women: the weakness of women forms a stronger contrast with the difficult poverty alleviation conditions. Observe the poverty alleviation story from a female perspective; Pay more attention to deep poverty-stricken villages: the program will select the most representative poverty-stricken villages in China to fully demonstrate the difficulty of poverty alleviation.

For example, in Quanfa village, a kind of poverty-stricken village, song Bing, a female master of Guizhou University, led the villagers to challenge the harsh conditions of freezing, fog and lack of sunshine. They want to plant grass black, lotus white, tiger skin garlic and other high cash crops in this gradually rocky desertification land, and create miracles here one after another.

After graduating from University, he Qianru became a college student village official in langbazhai village, Lushui City, Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan Province, despite the opposition of his family. She mobilized the villagers to find a market for the local Morel industry and mountain products through webcast. Although she experienced failure and pain during this period, he Qianru, who dared to try, finally brought a new sales model to langbaizhai village with her practical actions, and also let the villagers’ mountain products and morels go out of the mountain.

The program team of the second season of “live up to the youth and live up to the village” recorded the stories of 10 enthusiastic young people who devoted themselves to the construction of rural grass-roots units in China, including Yuan Hui, song Bing, he Qianru, re chanima, Wu Jinwei, Chong Langjia, Li Nanan, ashati, Wang Zhixiang and Zhang Jiaming. With careful planning and footprints all over the north and south of the river, the film crew showed the audience the new style of contemporary Chinese young elites and the hot scene in the front line of poverty alleviation through the real record of their construction and life at the grass-roots level in rural China.

Inheriting the May 4th movement, mango TV always leads the positive energy of youth

More than a hundred years ago, Li Dazhao, a pioneer of the May 4th movement, inspired the youth: “the dictionary of youth has no word of ‘difficulties’, the oral language of youth has no language of’ obstacles’; only knowing the leap forward, flying, free spirit, strange thoughts, sharp intuition and lively life.” The second season of “live up to the youth and live up to the village” is just approaching the 100th anniversary of the May 4th movement. Its youth, blood, positive and positive overall style is quite in line with the special requirements for the content theme in this time period.

In recent years, mango TV adheres to the responsibility and mission of the mainstream media, and takes it as its own responsibility to convey the positive energy of youth and carry forward the mainstream values; Adhering to the promotion of media integration, it has jointly created a series of theme blockbusters with Hunan Satellite TV, Hunan Economic TV and Hunan metropolis, such as “I love you China”, “my youth on the Silk Road”, “live up to youth and live up to the village”, “struggle here”, etc. to explore the young expression of the theme programs, and has made a lot of innovative achievements in the creation of Chinese youth culture.

The broadcast of the second season of “live up to the youth and live up to the village” marks another solid step for mango TV towards building a mainstream propaganda tape and a positive energy broadcasting platform. This not only enriches the overall framework and layout of mango TV in the theme content, but also reflects its responsibility and responsibility as a mainstream new media. Continuously innovate and dig deep into the expression methods loved by young people. Mango TV is transmitting a patriotic sense of mission and positive energy to the current young people through high-quality content and positive attitude.

The second season of “live up to youth and live up to the village” will be launched on Mango TV at 10:00 on May 2 and broadcast on Hunan Economic television at 18:20 on May 3. We are more moved and witness it together.