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)