Cool sht, great for building antenna, navigation light posts, and other things on remote planets. Im SO envious of future generations, I really wished I got to see exo-planet exploration.
"Developed by scientists at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology), the FiloBot is able to grow towards light sources and away from the pull of gravity. FiloBot is continuously pulling a filament of 3D-printing thermoplastic up from a spool in its base station, into its head. That filament passes through a heated extruder in the head, which is slowly rotating relative to the body. In this manner, the robot 3D-prints its own body in successive coiled layers of molten plastic, which bond together as they cool.What's more, the robot automatically winds around vertical supports when they're present (just like a vine winds around a trellis), allowing it to put less time and energy into growing a strong body when strength isn't needed. When no adjacent support surfaces are detected, however - in other words, when the head has reached an open space - the body is grown stiff and strong, so it can support itself"
