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Robot Swarm Obeys Commands
MIT scientists can give a swarm of tiny robots a command to form a large structure, and they obey!
(Thousand robot swarm!)
“Form a sea star shape,” directs a computer scientist, sending the command to 1,024 little bots simultaneously via an infrared light. The robots begin to blink at one another and then gradually arrange themselves into a five-pointed star. “Now form the letter K.”The ‘K’ stands for Kilobots, the name given to these extremely simple robots, each just a few centimeters across, standing on three pin-like legs. Instead of one highly-complex robot, a “kilo” of robots collaborate, providing a simple platform for the enactment of complex behaviors.
Just as trillions of individual cells can assemble into an intelligent organism, or a thousand starlings can form a great flowing murmuration across the sky, the Kilobots demonstrate how complexity can arise from very simple behaviors performed en masse (see video). To computer scientists, they also represent a significant milestone in the development of collective artificial intelligence (AI).
I think this is an amazing implementation of the nanomachine swarm from Stanislaw Lem's 1954 novel The Invincible:
"What is the nature of this cloud? What is your opinion?" he asked without any introductory remarks."It is made up of tiny metal particles. A remote-controlled emulsion, as it were, with uniform center," answered Jazon.
...I believe them to be very tiny pseudo insects that, if necessary, and for their common good, can unite to form a superordinate system (Read more about nanomachine swarm team)
Via MIT.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/18/2014)
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