Photos: Prototype robots
![zd-defaultauthor-andy7718.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/10151826dafde1cc88372acace2af464f8e2d7d5/2014/12/04/995d43be-7b62-11e4-9a74-d4ae52e95e57/zd-defaultauthor-andy7718.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
![33203.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/0890f91d42b1337502ec1c99ac9b46439824ef1f/2014/08/29/9d1531aa-2f41-11e4-9e6a-00505685119a/33203.jpg?auto=webp&width=1280)
Spin
These "gears" are covered with electromagnets or half-capacitors. When placed next to each other, they will cause each other to spin, depending on the state of the magnet, and propel each other.
Actuator stacks
A set of actuator stacks in action. The two cylinders do not contain any moving parts. Through the magic of Moore's Law, researchers believe they can coat a sphere less than a millimeter in diameter with several microscopic actuators. These beads could then form an intelligent fabric.
Closeup
A closeup of one of the actuators.
Robot spelling bee
This, essentially, is a simulation of a robot spelling bee. The purple shaded area is actually a field of 40,000 simulated robots. They are moving around the holes, represented by black dots. The collective movement transforms five squares of robots and gets them to spell Intel.