会造房子的机器人来啦
If fiberglass tubes suddenly started to sprout out of the ground, you might think you had stumbled on some alien invasion.
假如有钢化玻璃管突然开始从地里涌出，你可能会认为你遇到了外星人入侵。
But such tubes are a real thing, woven by newly developed autonomous robots to create large structures such as bridges and temporary shelters—with minimal human input.
不过这些管子其实是真实存在的事物，是由最近研发的自动化机器人编织的，用来创建大型的结构例如桥梁或者临时避难所——而采用的人力投入是最小的。
Each “Fiberbot” has a winding arm that pulls fiber from a tank on the ground, mixes the materials in a nozzle, and winds the wetted fiber around itself like a silkworm cocooning.
每一个“纤维机器人”都有一个绕线的手臂，它可以从地上的箱子里拉出纤维来，然后在喷嘴里把材料混合在一起，再把湿润后的纤维像蚕吐丝造蛹一样把自己绕起来。
Next, the robot turns on an ultraviolet light to cook the fiber into a hard tube.
接下来，这个机器人会打开紫外灯来让纤维转变成硬化的管道。
Then, it deflates its body and uses a tiny motor and wheels to inch itself up on top of the hardened fiber, where the process begins again.
然后，它会缩小自己的身体，然后用一个小型马达和轮子来缓慢移动到硬化的管道最上端，然后重复上述过程。
The robots can tilt and use different winding patterns to vary the thickness and the direction of the tubes.
这种机器人可以倾斜并利用不同的编织图案来改变厚度和管道的方向。
As they build, the Fiberbots communicate with each other through a computer network to avoid running into each other or other obstacles.
在建造过程中，这种纤维机器人可以通过电脑网络相互交流来避免撞到对方或者障碍物。
Together, they can calculate the most efficient way to build a given structure.
共同合作下，它们可以计算出建造所给结构的最有效率的方式。
Over 12 hours, a team of 22 robots was able to build two treelike structures 4.5 meters tall (about the height of a double-decker bus), the researchers report today in Science Robotics.
在十二小时里，一个由22个编织机器人组成的团队可以建造出两个高达4.5米的树形结构（大概相当于双层巴士那么高），研究员们在今天的《科学机器人》杂志上发表了结果。
The researchers had intended the robots’ trees to meet in the middle to form a tentlike shelter, but found the machines actually overcorrected their paths to avoid bumping into each other.
研究员们本来打算让机器人编织的树在中间聚合来形成帐篷式的避难所的，但发现机器实际上自动校正了它们的路径来避免撞到对方。
The structure was able to stand without damage for 7 months outside through high winds, rain, and snow during the fall and winter, until the researchers disassembled it.
这种结构可以在户外毫发无损地矗立七个月，无论秋冬天的大风，下雨还是下雪，直到最后被研究员们拆除。
The team says the technology could be used to build structures in remote environments with unknown terrain, like after an extreme weather event, because instructions on what to build can be beamed wirelessly to the robots, and they can adapt the blueprint around any obstacles that might crop up in their path.
该团队称这项技术可以用于在遥远的地形未知的环境里用来建造结构，比如那些极端天气里，因为建造的指令可以无线传输给机器人，而它们可以调整方案来避开路上可能遇到的任何障碍物。
With further testing and refinement, the scientists say Fiberbots could be used on other planets.
经过进一步的测试和校正，科学家们说这种编织机器人可以用在别的星球上。
They do look like they would be right at home on a martian landscape.
它们要是真的到了火星上，倒反而像是回家了一般。
对于这种编织机器人，朋友们有什么想法吗？欢迎给amber留言哦！
感谢关注
跟amber一起看世界