We are all familiar with robot toys and there are robot kits available now but there is a new era coming with the next generations of robots. Polymorphic robots, sometimes referred to as superbots, are robotic machines made up of many parts that may be reconfigurable standard building blocks. They can be self aware building blocks which can reconnect with other blocks if they become separated. The possibilities are amazing but also slightly scary.

You could give an order to a box of building blocks which would then decide on the best configuration to achieve that aim. For example, you might give the instruction to make a cup of coffee. The blocks would connect together to make a much more powerful computer by joining together and sharing the computation process. They would work out what a cup of coffee is, what would be required to make it and then assemble themselves into the appropriate parts.

For now polymorphic robots are still relatively large and bulky so it would be impossible for them to assemble themselves to make a kettle or a cup to produce our cup of coffee but with further development combined with the the possibilities of nanotechnology and micro machines and suddenly the possibilities are simply astonishing.

The idea of building anything from basic building blocks is fundamental to the world we know. Everything on and including the planet Earth is build from basic building blocks. Quite how or why those building blocks assemble into the forms they do remains mysterious

Consider a brick building which is built from standard bricks. Move on a few steps down the technology road and imagine those same blocks were semi intelligent and you have a house that can shape shift and change into an industrial building, an office block or a bridge.

With shape changing abilities like this the possibilities begin to become mind boggling. Now move another step on and imagine that same capability but on a micro or even nanotechnology scale. The possibilities then become almost limitless. It all sounds impossible but we are on a road heading to that ultimate possibility.

It must be the ultimate military commanders dream to have an army that can self heal, repairing and replacing itself as it advances with no regard for the amount of damage taken. Add to this scenario the ability of that robot army being able to adapt it's shape, it's method of travel and even it's weapons to suit changing needs and you have an almost unstoppable force.

The only way of repelling such an attack would most likely be a similarly equipped defence force of intelligent and self aware polymorphic robots. The ultimate winner would probably be the side with the best computer algorithms that were able to calculate and adapt the fastest.

Self aware intelligent robots might still sound like science fiction but we have examples of robot aircraft or drones which are, apparently, able to distinguish enemy vehicles from friendly ones and destroy them with little if any involvement of human beings.

When that robotic drone aircraft is constructed of nanotechnology polymorphic robot blocks that can calculate the best form to take to carry out a mission it could be an aircraft one minute and a submarine the next. It could slither under your door looking like dust blowing in and reassemble itself as an armchair, a TV or a weapons system. It will be true to say that anything is possible.

We may be quite a long way away from this now but the developments taking place are remarkable.

The can be no doubt that polymorphic robot technology would change the world we live in and bring enormous benefits to us humans. We currently have to design a machine to suit a certain purpose and whilst some machine can be used in several ways for different purposes we remain surrounded by all types of different machines from washing machines to cars.

Imagine if all you needed was a box full of nanotechnology polymorphic robot building blocks that could convert themselves into any machine you could imagine and maybe even think of things that you would be incapable of imagining. They could become anything you wanted them to become and we would all have everything we could want at any time we wanted it. Utopia.

The arguments against this possibility would be energy used to change shape and move around and cost but on the truly incredible scale these would be produced at cost might not be such an issue. There might be the possibility that they could be self replicating and you would be starting with just a few that would build more of themselves and they might be able to obtain energy from sunlight or by making themselves into some sort of energy generator.

This idea of polymorphic robots capable of changing themselves to suit the required need is a fascinating and slightly scary prospect for the future and we are a long way away from seeing these tiny nanotechnology robot building blocks but larger scale ones are starting to appear.

Below are a few videos of developments in this field that have been shared with us. Who knows what is out there that we haven't been told about.