A team of researchers at Columbia University, funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, have developed “machines that can grow by consuming other machines.”

Video of the experiment shows tubular robots that move by extending their shafts to inch along the ground. As the tubes gather, they connect and form into more complex shapes like triangles and tetrahedrons. With each piece consumed, the whole moves faster and with more elegance.

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Pentagon Funded Experiment Develops Robots that Change by ‘Consuming’ Other Robots

Researchers say this 'robot metabolism' is an early step in giving AI biological style bodies.

^{Matthew Gault (404 Media)}