A new computational method facilitates the dense placement of objects inside a rigid container.

California blackworms tangle themselves up by the thousands, then separate in a split second. Their trick may inspire the design of self-detangling materials and fibers.

The system’s simple repeating elements can assemble into swimming forms ranging from eel-like to wing-shaped.

A new algorithm for automatic assembly of products is accurate, efficient, and generalizable to a wide range of complex real-world assemblies.

Researchers make progress toward groups of robots that could build almost anything, including buildings, vehicles, and even bigger robots.

Researchers created a method for magnetically programming materials to make cubes that are very picky about what they connect with, enabling more-scalable self-assembly.

Their swirling, clustering behavior might someday inform the design of self-assembling robotic swarms.

Self-assembly of Kevlar-inspired molecules leads to structures with robust properties, offering new materials for solid-state applications.

The subunits could be robotically assembled to produce large, complex objects, including cars, robots, or wind turbine blades.

In the Maldives, an MIT team is conducting experiments to combat sea-level rise by redirecting natural sand movement.