Space robots to become Ants

NASA is working on "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" (ANTS). At the moment what they have is a tetrahedron pyramid shaped robot which moves around by toppling over. Antarctic tests are being carried out with plans to one day to shrink it to nanobots for exploring Mars.

But we believe there may be more useful applications closer to home.

"If current robotic rovers topple over on a distant planet, they are doomed -- there is no way to send someone to get them back on their wheels again. However, TETwalkers move by toppling over. It's a very reliable way to get around," said a NASA boffin.

When we tried to convince bar staff of this at the recent INQ birthday party, we were asked to leave. µ