SKIRMISHER

Forget about Transformers (but don’t forget Megan Fox!). If Seth Goldstein and his team at Carnegie Mellon University would have their way, the future would be “peopled” by robots that easily change shape.

Called “claytronics,” these robots will be composed of swarms of microscopic robots that can morph into virtually any form by clinging together. Sure, the species-obliterating potential  would have been terribly frightening, but thanks to the reassuring British accent of the narrator in the above video, we’re now beginning to feel that living side-by-side with robots that from one moment looks like 2003 Britney Spears, then today’s Britney Spears the next, would be like, well, living like we do now.

For a more “pop” understanding of what this all could mean, know that Michael Crichton explored this suspenseful (with lots of running away from bad shit and screaming, “Henry, your ass-hair, they’re gonna eat it!”) possibility in Prey.

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