It’s Over; the Robots Have Learned to Build

Few things are more unsettling than a swarm of buzzing robot drones seamlessly cooperating to build things.

It’s nice to see the folks at UPenn’s GRASP Laboratory continuing in their unrelenting quest to give robots the tools they will need to overthrow and enslave their fleshbag masters. Here, we see that they’ve taught their diligent team of manhacks quadrotors how to build miniature cubic structures.

According to GRASP researcher Daniel Mellinger via YouTube, “[the team tells] the quadrotors what structure to build, and they figure out the assembly plan and then build it.” So not only are they doing the heavy lifting, they’re doing the planning. The planning that teaches them how to create small, cage-like objects.

I can see nothing wrong with this plan in the least.

“Oh sure,” some of you may be saying, “but doesn’t this have genuinely useful applications as well? We could use robots to construct buildings without endangering human lives and without the risk of human error.”

Perhaps, I respond, but that is an ultimately naive thought. I assure you, this terrifying buzzing noise will be the last sound many of us ever hear with conscious, free-thinking minds.

(Via Botjunkie)