Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab (USA) Molecubes (1)

Not soldResearch robot; later open-source redesign supported by Microsoft Research and Festo.

Not for sale (research)Not programmableSelf-replicationOpen sourceCornellDiagonal joint

Not soldShipping: N/A. Research project; not for sale.

Remote control: Not possible for most, since the hardware was never sold; the later open-source designs (blueprints, firmware and schematics) were published for rebuilding.

Wikipedia ↗

Overview

Famous for physically demonstrating robot self-reproduction, since three- and four-module Molecube robots built copies of themselves from spare cubes. Created by Hod Lipson, Victor Zykov and Stathis Mytilinaios, it later became an open-source kit design with hinge, gripper, wheel and camera modules. Included here as a pivotal modular-robot milestone just before the 20-year window.

Specifications

Category	Modular & reconfigurable · Research & self-reconfiguring
Released	2005
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	Open source (hardware + software)
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Camera
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	100 mm cube, 0.65 kg (original)
Locomotion	Each cube's two halves rotate about its long diagonal; chains of cubes reconfigure
Compute	Microprocessor in one half of each cube
Camera	Camera module in later open-source version
Sensors	Not published
Runtime	Battery module in later version (runtime not published)
Speed	Not published
SDK	Open-source blueprints, firmware and schematics (GitHub)