This article is about a branch of robotics called swarm robotics. SWARM stands for "intelligent small-world autonomous robots for micro-manipulation." It is all about inventing a large group of tiny robots that can work together. The idea is to create a swarm of robots that can act together, self assemble, and accomplish tasks together. The swarm in this article are programmed to follow a certain type of pheromone like ants would follow a trail of pheromones in a line. However the robots use optical pheromones, show by the video on the website. The robots are also solar powered.
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While these robots currently need a lot of work, they are a very good idea. These robots could be sent into places that humans could not go. For example, if miners were trapped underground, the swarm robots could be sent in to find the miners and establish communication. They would be very effective. They are also solar powered making them energy efficient. Finally they plan on designing the robots so that they are cost efficient and could be mass produced. Currently, these robots are not able to self assemble and need a lot of development before they reach usable levels. However in time, these robots promise to be very useful. I deeply admire the idea and design of these robots.
The largest swarm in the world
An example of swarm robots
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