Introduction

We still tell our children “you can be anything when you grow up.” It’s time to start telling them “you’re going to be able to make anything…right now.” How can a material be intelligent by being made up of particle-sized machines? The idea is simple: make basic computers housed in tiny spheres that can connect to each other and rearrange themselves. Each particle, called a Claytronics atom or Catom, is less than a millimeter in diameter. With billions you could make almost any object you wanted.

Catoms, or Claytronics Atoms, are also referred to as 'programmable matter'. Catoms are described as being similar in nature to a nanomachine, but with greater power and complexity. While microscopic individually, they bond and work together on a larger scale. Catoms can change their density, energy levels, state of being, and other characteristics using thought alone.

It will take billions of micron-scale ‘claytronic atoms’ or ‘catoms’ to create computer generated artifacts as if they were the real thing, such as a self-assembling synthetic doctor coming to your house via Internet — and controlled by the real one living miles away. Or you can imagine several colleagues from around the world appearing magically in your local meeting room.

Imagine for example an LCD screen that once used turns into shows that one door on itself permanently. It’s strange, it remind a little of the principle of the film “Transformers”… Technically, catoms built by Intel are still far from having the proper scale, they are the size of a pack of cigarettes, approximately. However, Intel introduced a prototype chip with hemispheres, a fundamental characteristic to achieve the miniaturization of so-called catoms.

These are basically miniature pieces of matter so intricate that they can shape-shift into actual shapes of whatever you desire based on a quick, programmable system. Yes, that means you could potentially take that cell phone you have and program it to shape-shift into something smaller or larger based on your needs.

Sounds eerie that you can shape any piece of technology into any size or oblong shape you want, doesn't it? According to Intel, they're already working on the basics of the system, even though it's with larger objects and not the microscopic catoms that'll come later and be able to shape-shift any particular piece of technology we can imagine. That's right, the hype from the technology itself might get some developers at Intel so excited, it probably makes them give the illusion that catoms are right on the horizon.

If you've read the more esoteric nanotechnology treatises, you're undoubtedly familiar with the concept of "programmable matter" -- micro- or nano-scale devices which can combine to form an amazing assortment of physical objects, reassembling into something entirely different as needed. This vision of nanotechnology is light years away from today's world of carbon nanotubes or even the practical-but-amazing world of nanofactories. It shouldn't surprise you, however, to note that despite its fantastical elements serious research is already underway heading down the path to programmable matter called "CLAYTRONICS" at Carnegie-Mellon University, and "DYNAMIC PHYSICAL RENDERING" at Intel (which is supporting the CMU work), the synthetic reality project has already made some tentative advances, and the researchers are confident of eventual success. Just how long "eventual" may be is subject to debate.

According to the Claytronics project's Seth Goldstein and Todd Mowry, programmable matter is:

An ensemble of material that contains sufficient

  local computation

  actuation

  storage

  energy

  sensing & communication

which can be programmed to form interesting dynamic shapes and configurations. CLAYTRONICS is their way of bringing this concept into reality.

The claytronic cellphone in your pocket could morph into whatever tool you need. Videoconferencing would gain a physical dimension, with all the participants appearing in claytronic form, and surgeons could even work on claytronic enlargements of internal organs to perform robotic tele-surgery with extreme precision.