CLAYTRONICS

Abstract
"Claytronics" is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable Nanoscale robots
('claytronic atoms', or catoms) designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms.
Also known as "programmable matter", the catoms will be sub-millimeter computers that will
eventually have the ability to move around, communicate with each others, change color, and
electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different shapes.

The forms made up of catoms could morph into nearly any object, even replicas of
human beings for virtual meetings. With Claytronics we are talking of intelligent material.
How can a material be intelligent? By being made up of particle-sized machines. At
Carnegie Mellon, with support from Intel ,the project is called Claytronics. The idea is
simple: make basic computers housed in tiny spheres that can connect to each other
and rearrange themselves. It’s the same concept as we saw with Modular Robotics, only
on a smaller scale. Each particle, called a Claytronics atom or Catom, is less than a
millimeter in diameter. With billions you could make almost any object you wanted.