Icebot: Robots made of Ice for Space Exploration

This is an interesting idea for building robots from in situ resources for space exploration.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/...-other-planets

Quote:

The IROS paper takes a look at different ways of manufacturing robotic structural components from ice using both additive and subtractive manufacturing processes, with the goal of developing a concept for robots that can exhibit “self-reconfiguration, self-replication, and self-repair.” The assumption is that the robot would be operating in an environment with ice all over the place, where the ambient temperature is cold enough that the ice remains stable, and ideally also cold enough that the heat generated by the robot won’t lead to an inconvenient amount of self-melting or an even more inconvenient amount of self-shorting.

Here's a little prototype icebot:

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And here's an interview with the guy researching the idea:
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via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3onq4UY