This Cool Video is from a Wall Street Journal report that discusses a Harvard scientist that constructed hundreds of small robots (each has a diameter of a penny) that can work together without a central intelligence. Does this make them more capable even if less intelligent than people?
The robots can assemble themselves into various shapes and complex designs. The scientists say that their inspiration can from bees, ant, termites and flocks of bird which perform complicated tasks even though no single individual giving orders or direction. The WSJ article notes that there can be more than 20 million driver ants in a colony and none can see, yet they work together on various tasks.
The robots are simple, with essentially three components. Each has a small microprocessor, infrared sensors, and a vibrator motor, to allow it to move. Each can do three things: follow the edge of the group, track the distance from its initial position, and maintain a sense of its relative position. A single command beamed to them all simultaneously sets the process in motion.
Cool Video: Can Self-Organizing Robots Unionize?
Reviewed by Marc Chandler
on
August 23, 2014
Rating:
Reviewed by Marc Chandler
on
August 23, 2014
Rating:
