Programmable World #TechVision In addition, businesses should ensure that Next, to find their competitive footing on the Look at what universities like MIT are working robot self-replicating by sweeping up loose they’re involved with industry-wide alliances, experience layer enterprises should innovate on. In late 2020, a team of researchers at stem cells in its petri dish, which then formed into helping to shape the development of new in areas where purely digital and purely physical MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms published copies of the original bot – something that has technology standards. For instance, from an experiences have yet to excel. Take shopping their work around four new material subunits never been seen before. Among other things, 110 interoperability perspective, this could mean for apparel for instance, which comes with called voxels. The voxels are mechanical the researchers believe the xenobots could be participating in ecosystem-wide efforts to major pain points both in person and online. metamaterials, each with a different shape, programmed for purposes like finding cancer set standards for how devices connect and At the store, customers must deal with limited which can be combined to form larger objects cells or trapping microplastics in the ocean and communicate. Already, an alliance called Matter selections and wait times, but online they have with special mechanical properties, like bulging believe its self-replicating capability could have exists between Google, Apple, Amazon, and to purchase (and often return) multiple items inwards rather than outwards when compressed implications for regenerative medicine. over 200 other companies to certify smart to find the right style and size. Now, leading or responding to compression by twisting. 109 home devices using a standard that promises retailers are experimenting on two fronts. Though they haven’t yet been widely tested, the Voxels and xenobots may not be commercially reliable, seamless, and secure connection They are developing virtual dressing rooms researchers believe voxels could be programmed ready for a while, but the fact that they already 108 using AR filters and 3D avatars so that their into certain combinations to create objects that and communication between products. exist is what’s important. The building blocks customers can try on items before they buy. change and respond to the environment around for each technology layer of the programmable For the experiential layer, enterprises can start And they are enhancing their physical dressing them – like airplane wings that shapeshift in world are growing in maturity, and enterprise to bridge their digital and physical worlds by rooms with improved lighting and interactive response to different air conditions – and they decision makers need to keep an eye on this building digital twins. Even without the full screens, so their shoppers can get more out believe tiny robots could be used to assemble, future. Enterprises may choose to excel at maturity of the programmable world, these of trips to the store. disassemble, and reassemble the voxels into a one layer or another, but the full technology platforms already provide significant operational nearly limitless variety of objects. stack will be needed to truly realize the and competitive advantages to companies Finally, it’s crucial to be constantly exploring revolutionary capabilities of the programmable today. And over time digital twins will become future technologies on the material layer. Or look at the xenobot developed by researchers world. Ultimately, companies should be asking the engine for every enterprise’s programmable Partnerships with startups and universities from Tufts University, Harvard University, themselves how they can build programmable 111 world strategy, letting them invent products, are a good way to make certain you are and the University of Vermont. The xenobot environments that become more valuable design experiences, and run their businesses staying right at the forefront of real-world is a “programmable” organism created by over time – rather than obsolete. in ways that would have been unimaginable technology innovation. assembling stem cells like building blocks, a few decades ago. and in a paper published in December 2021, the researchers said they witnessed the organic Introduction // WebMe // Programmable World // The Unreal // Computing the Impossible 52