Stuff of sci-fi nightmares? An army of robots that reproduce

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=637672

It has been the dream - and nightmare - of science fiction writers for decades. Now a team of engineers has conjured up a robot that can reproduce itself.

The robot can self-replicate in much the same way that some living organisms are able to reproduce by cloning themselves. Although the machine in question serves no useful purpose other than to make copies of itself, scientists believe it has set a precedent for a future in which robots will proliferate on their own.

In the long term, the scientists envisage a day when armies of self-replicating robots will be able mend themselves when broken, expand their population, explore space and even establish self-sustaining colonies on other planets.

Hod Lipson, a mechanical engineer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who led the research team, is one of a number of robot specialists who believes that machines will one day design and build themselves as a form of "artificial life".

[Richard Steele]

1. To quote Jon Stewart:

"I can't possibly imagine THAT turning out badly."

[RC]

2. And we humans will be their god to be worshiped.

Oh goodie.