The Claytronics Project

Claytronics is an exploration into a new form of smart matter composed of myriad tiny robots acting together to physically render 3D shapes. One might think of such smart matter as self-reshaping, color-shifting modeling clay, forming physical objects with which humans could interact tangibly. This technology may sound like Science Fiction, but is actually under development at the Intel Research Lab of Pittsburgh.

Our group from the Entertainment Technology Center has been charged with making compelling video demos for possible Claytronic applications. One such application is Claytronic prototyping – the idea that in the future, people can physically render their ideas and designs for fast prototyping. Another application would be telepresence – the idea that people in different locations would be able to interact physically by using Claytronic replications of their form.