The robots swarm and mass together like living creatures

Swarms of robots could one day be exploring space or doing dangerous jobs on Earth, say researchers.

Promising prototypes of co-operating robots were on show at the Artificial Life XI conference this week.

Advances in technology mean it is now possible to create self-assembling robot chains as well as tiny robots for as little as £24.

Roboticists say the swarms of robots could prove more adaptable and smarter than individual, self-contained ones.

Crowd control

“For a long time in robotics there was this focus on a ’smart machine’, an android that would make you breakfast and go out and buy your shopping,” said Dr Seth Bullock, the University of Southampton researcher chairing the Alife XI conference.

“But that’s extremely challenging; it’s going to be far easier for us to engineer little simple things and rely on them to organise themselves.”

To that end, a group of undergraduate students at the University of Southampton has developed a swarm of identical, matchbox-sized robots, each of which costs just £24 to produce.
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