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ANTS: Autonomous NanoTechnology Swarm

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ANTS FACTS

  • The tetrahedral structure allows the walker to reconfigure itself into almost any shape, including snakes, arms, and satellite dishes.
  • Unlike any other rover, the TET walker is designed to roll over.
  • Designed to be self-healing, the TET walker will be able to discard and replace broken parts of its structure.
  • Students and staff from more than 15 different colleges and universities have collaborate on ANTS projects.
  • The single TET prototype has been all over the country and the globe! It has visited Canada and Antarctica, to name a few.
  • TET is short for tetrahedron. The word tetrahedron is derived from the Greek word "tetraedros," meaning four-faced.
  • The TET walker prototype was tested at the McMurdo station, located in Antarctica. Facing a cold climate and rocky terrain, the TET walker proved that it could climb steep hills.
  • Each TET is comprised of nodes and struts. The struts are the extendable legs of the tetrahedron and the nodes are the points where the struts meet.
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