A wire-driven parallel robot is a type of robotic system where multiple wires are used to control the movement of a end-effector. The wires are attached to the end-effector and anchored to fixed points on external structures. This configuration allows for the separation of actuators and end-effectors, enabling lightweight and simplified movable parts in the robot. However, its range of motion remains confined within the space formed by the wires, limiting the wire-driven capability to only within the pre-designed operational range. Here, in this study, we develop a wire-driven robot, CubiX, capable of connecting to and utilizing the environment. CubiX connects itself to the environment using up to 8 wires and drives itself by winding these wires. By integrating actuators for winding the wires into CubiX, a portable wire-driven parallel robot is realized without limitations on its workspace. Consequently, the robot can form parallel wire-driven structures by connecting wires to the environment at any operational location.

According to Al Fiegehen, chief executive officer of Cubix Corporation in Carson City, the computer industry is about to explode at the same rate it did in the 1980s when computer technology forever changed the world. The online magazine, Wired, refers to the 1980s as the "Decade That Invented the Future." IBM introduced the PC in 1981 when Microsoft invented MS-Dos; three years later, the Apple McIntosh was introduced. Time magazine referred to 1982 as "The Year of the Computer" and by 1983, about 10 million computers were in use. Fiegehen and his then partner, Don Lehr, were right at the forefront of this technological explosion when computers went from the second-generation memory systems developed by IBM between 1947-1962 to third generation systems with integrated circuits introduced in 1963.