ACM TechNews

Small, Cheap, Swarming Robots Unveiled

Daily Telegraph (UK) (08/05/08) Highfield, Roger

University of Southampton researchers Alexis Johnson and Klaus-Peter Zauner unveiled a group of swarm robots inspired by bees, ants, and other social creatures at the Eleventh International Conference on Artificial Life in Winchester, England. The inexpensive coin-sized bots could be used for basic research on emergent behavior, which examines how individual creatures cooperate, such as how to form flocks of birds, swarms of insects, or shoals of fish. Zauner says applications for swarm robots include tasks such as monitoring pollution spills. "Armed with sensors, they can map out a danger zone if a barrel of pollutants in a storage area has leaked, and move if it continues to spread," Zauner says. Swarm robots also could be used on roads to quickly close a line following an accident, with each robot displaying a bright sign to warn traffic. Zauner says swarm robots could also be used to help explore other worlds as a swarm of inexpensive robots is more robust and reliable than a single expensive all-purpose robot. Swarm robots could also be used to create vast arrays of solar panels in space. A small swarm of 25 prototype robots can run for more than two hours between charges, and are constructed using basic manufacturing techniques, eliminating the need for hand assembly and lowering their cost. Johnson says the robots can already detect when their energy is low and charge themselves at special charging stations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/
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