DARPA's programmable matter initiative strives to make the ultimate Swiss Army knife

Remember Intel's shape shifting matter concepts? Well, those realty-bending cats at DARPA are looking to put their own spin on it with a Programmable Matter program of their own. As is their mantra, the long-term goals are pretty wild: researcher Dr. Mitchell R. Zakin is hopeful they can one day build a container that looks like a paint can and will form universal spare parts or tools such as hammers and wrenches based on the soldiers' needs, using a building material they call "mesomatter" that range anywhere from one hundred microns to a centimeter in size. Currently five months into the program's second phase, there's still another fifteen to go before they move on. By then, the group expect to be able to use the technology and assemble four or five different three-dimensional solids. Best be careful, if this falls in the wrong hands, we'll have more "leaked iPhone" images ever previously thought possible.

[Via Wired]

[jay jay @ Jun 7th 2009 10:30PM]

this reminds me of the replicators from stargate sg1. i wonder how they are going to get the material to change shape heat,electricity?

[Glenn @ Jun 7th 2009 10:33PM]

Heh, same here jay jay. I was thinking of replicators too :P

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 7th 2009 10:51PM]

DARPA DON'T SET IT LOOSE!!!! REPLICATORS ARE A BITCH!

[paul34 @ Jun 7th 2009 11:29PM]

Lando, you only wish you had replicators. Instead you're stuck with the blasters you got on hand.

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 8th 2009 1:52AM]

Hell no I don't wish I had replicators, unless you happen to have an ARG, then energy weapons are useless. I'd be screwed in the event of a Replicator attack!

[The Walrus @ Jun 7th 2009 10:30PM]

I have never seen text directly to the right of the picture.

In related news, why not rename DARPA "The Association of Government Funded Mad Scientists"?

[i.c. weiner @ Jun 7th 2009 10:31PM]

don't you mean "reality"?

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Jun 7th 2009 10:56PM]

Maybe he meant "realty-bending," as in those sub-prime home mortgages that screwed up the US economy.

Also, the last sentence has a comma splice and is missing the word "than" before the word "ever."

Proofread, Engadget.

Just sayin'.

[o29 @ Jun 7th 2009 11:15PM]

Hi, Smart People Play Tuba, and welcome to Engadget.

[fischju @ Jun 7th 2009 10:33PM]

Pretty sure something with those properties is what the people who encountered the Roswell wreckage claimed to have had contact with.

[Mike @ Jun 7th 2009 10:33PM]

would not be good for airport security

[The Walrus @ Jun 7th 2009 10:37PM]

Why couldn't the other passengers just create guns out of their programmable solids and have a bad ass fight on a plane?

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 7th 2009 10:56PM]

Because you'd still need bullets, even if you could make a gun out of this.

[The Walrus @ Jun 7th 2009 10:58PM]

Knife

[Mark @ Jun 7th 2009 11:09PM]

"It can't form complex machines. Guns and explosives have chemicals, moving parts. It doesn't work that way. But [it] can form solid metal shapes."
"Like what?"
"Knives and stabbing weapons."

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Jun 7th 2009 11:19PM]

"Your levity is good. It relieves tension . . . and fear of death."

The only good line from T3.

[paul34 @ Jun 7th 2009 11:31PM]

You're right, but let's take your idea one further. All the security issues on airplanes are caused by people, generally on the actual plane.

So if we just eliminate people from planes entirely, then we won't have any problems. It should keep our skies safe. Ban people now!

[Triscuit @ Jun 7th 2009 10:35PM]

Has anyone (other than our lovely host) gone to read the linked story? And I quote:

These capabilities offer the possibility for morphing aircraft and ground vehicles, uniforms that can alter themselves to be comfortable in any climate, and “soft” robots that flow like mercury through small openings to enter caves and bunker complexes.

End quote. Terminator, anyone? The end is nigh.

[Lazarpandar @ Jun 8th 2009 1:12AM]

I used to fold up note cards in intermediate school and make something exactly like this.

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 8th 2009 2:01AM]

You would make programmable and reformable matter during class? Can you show me how? Please?
/s

[Wwhat @ Jun 8th 2009 2:53AM]

Yeah it's just classical origami/trade-show-gifts but made from tougher material, bit of a throwback really, and probably covered by patents from the 1950's or earlier.
Still, it's how you market it and use it and assemble it eh.

[Pat @ Jun 7th 2009 10:47PM]

DARPAs first job is to scare any potential foes*, who knows what black stuff we have up our sleeves.

* Those real countries with sane leaders.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ Jun 7th 2009 10:55PM]

Greeeeey Gooooooo Scen-ar-i-ooooooooooo!!!!

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Jun 7th 2009 10:59PM]

Grey Goo is self-replicating nanobots that feed on surrounding material. Not this stuff.

BTW, Amish Pirate . . . how's that head wound you got from that Navy sniper healing up?

[jay jay @ Jun 7th 2009 11:07PM]

at smart people play tube
+1 pirate jokes always get a chuckle out of me.

[elmer @ Jun 7th 2009 11:00PM]

So this is the T-1000's polymimetic alloy. The field robot projects are the Terminators. The UAVs are the HK's.The AI initiatives are Skynet. The laser missile defence system are pulsed laser rifles.

Let's see. What DARPA project is missing from the apocalyptic world of Terminator?

Oh yeah, the time displacement device. I'll bet funding holdups are what slow it down resulting in its late emergence in the war for the planet.

[The Walrus @ Jun 7th 2009 11:04PM]

Yeah, I hate scientific progress too

[paul34 @ Jun 7th 2009 11:32PM]

As long as my morphing alloy can transform into Megan Fox I'm okay with it.

[SiXiam @ Jun 8th 2009 1:39AM]

I think your thinking of "pulsed plasma rifle in the 40 watt range", not a pulsed laser, but everything else is spot on.

With regards to their latest project, a DARPA researcher was just staring at a spork for far too long.

[Kelvinyam @ Jun 8th 2009 2:04AM]

Oh boy, the judgment day is nearer than we thought...

[Jason @ Jun 7th 2009 11:34PM]

This reminds me of Batman's wings. They expand when given a slight electric shock.

And I agree, if this comes through, it would indeed be a bitch for airport security.

[paul34 @ Jun 7th 2009 11:51PM]

Because airport security is already effective at screening out existing weapons, right?

/sarcasm

[Wolfton @ Jun 8th 2009 12:19AM]

Okay. What about using this stuff as a form of bandage? Could this technology be used to repair combat vehicles on the move? Is it possible that this technology could be used to help repair an aircraft just enough to make a safe landing?

We can't stop progress, no matter how evil we make Skynet look on the silver screen. But we can come up with better uses for such technology than weapons.

By the way, I am a soldier, and weapons were not my first thought.

[Wwhat @ Jun 8th 2009 2:49AM]

"Could this technology be used to repair combat vehicles on the move?"
..
"weapons were not my first thought."

*cough*

[David @ Jun 8th 2009 2:00AM]

Really? REALLY? Did NO ONE ELSE look at this and see Felix' magical bag of tricks?

[fontendet24 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:49AM]

Black Mesa...
Where we can be with this experiments?
Let's open the door to other dimensions.

[Jon Doe. @ Jun 8th 2009 11:47AM]

The future of the Rubiks Cube no doubt.

[pokeman54 @ Jun 8th 2009 3:31PM]

OMG DUNGEON DICE MONSTERS!

[William Su @ Jun 9th 2009 10:15PM]

wholly shit transformers and all and in the future liquid transforms like in shingrila