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English to Portuguese: The Swiss Army Knife Robot General field: Science Detailed field: Automation & Robotics
Source text - English The Swiss Army Knife Robot
“Programmable matter” prototype may lead to robotic devices that could become almost anything
This four-segment milli-motein has one-centimeter module size.
A little device that resembles a mechanical inchworm could usher in a new generation of robots that can fold themselves up into almost any shape imaginable—a diminutive real-life version of the robots in the Transformers movies.
The device is called a milli-motein—a reference to its millimeter-sized components and a motorized design inspired by proteins, which naturally fold themselves into incredibly complex shapes.
"It’s effectively a one-dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip, without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into arbitrary shapes," says Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, who created the device with visiting scientist Ara Knaian and postdoctoral associate Kenneth Cheung.
To build it, the research team had to invent an entirely new kind of motor: one that is not only small and strong but also able to hold its position firmly even with the power switched off.
(When an ordinary electric motor is switched off, its shaft can rotate freely.)
The researchers met these needs with a new system called an electropermanent motor.
It’s part of an overall approach to "turning data into things," Gershenfeld explains.
The milli-motein is part of a family of such devices being explored at various sizes, from protein-based "nanoassemblers" to a version in which each link in the chain of modules is as big as a person, Gershenfeld says.
Ultimately, a reconfigurable robot should be "small, cheap, durable, and strong," Knaian says, adding that right now "it’s not possible to get all of those."
Still, he points out, proteins and other molecules that form the basis of living organisms do have all of those qualities.
"Biology is the existence proof that it is possible," he says.
Translation - Portuguese O robô das mil e uma utilidades
Um protótipo de “matéria programável” permite a criação de dispositivos robóticos para virtualmente qualquer finalidade
Este milli-motein de quatro segmentos tem o tamanho modular de um centímetro.
Um pequeno dispositivo que se parece com uma lagarta mecânica pode ser o pioneiro de uma nova geração de robôs com a habilidade de dobrar-se para assumir praticamente qualquer forma imaginável — uma versão diminuta dos robôs nos filmes Transformers na vida real.
O dispositivo é chamado de milli-motein — uma referência aos seus componentes milimétricos e ao projeto motorizado inspirado nas proteínas, que por natureza, dobram-se em formas inacreditavelmente complexas.
"É na verdade um robô unidimensional, que pode ser criado como uma tira contínua, sem as partes móveis convencionais, que dobra-se em formas arbitrárias", diz Neil Gershenfeld, chefe do Centro de Bits e Átomos do MIT, que criou o dispositivo junto com Ara Knaian, o cientista visitante, e Kenneth Cheung, um colega com pós-doutorado.
Para construi-lo, a equipe de pesquisa teve de inventar um tipo de motor até então inédito: pequeno e forte, mas também capaz de manter a posição de maneira firme, até com a energia desligada.
(Quando um motor elétrico comum é desligado, seu eixo pode girar livremente.)
Os pesquisadores resolveram esta questão com um novo sistema chamado de motor eletropermanente.
Ele integra um modelo de “conversão de dados em coisas”, explica Gershenfeld.
O milli-motein faz parte de uma família de dispositivos deste tipo, que estão sendo explorados em vários tamanhos, dos “nanomontadores” baseados nas proteínas até uma versão na qual cada conexão na cadeia de módulos pode ter o tamanho de uma pessoa, diz Gershenfeld.
Enfim, um robô reconfigurável deve ser “pequeno, barato, durável, e forte”, segundo Knaian, acrescentando que, neste momento, “não é possível contemplar todos esses fatores”.
Entretanto, ele aponta que proteínas e outras moléculas que formam a base de organismos vivos, na verdade têm todas essas qualidades.
“A biologia é a prova existencial de que isto é possível”, ele afirma.
An independent translator with over 20 years' experience, I have worked mostly in software and game localization over the last years. I love to learn and use different kinds of technology, translation-related or not, and keep up-to-date with new ones. I have an information portal for translators called Multitude, where I post resources to help brazilian professionals. I also promote the use of OmegaT, a free and open-source translation tool, by publishing articles and videos on YouTube.
I hold a degree in Tourism (with a minor in Environment), a higher education certificate in Translation from English to Portuguese, and I am currently pursuing an IT undergraduate degree in Systems Analysis and Development.
