US scientists have developed small robots that behave much like termites. The insects build impressive, metres-high structures even though they can follow only simple rules and have no knowledge of an overall plan. The Harvard researchers’ robot brick-layers do something similar, sensing just the immediate area and taking limited cues from each other. Nonetheless, as a report in Science magazine shows, the machines can also build large, coherent structures. The researchers say this decentralised approach to robot programming can have some major advantages over very sophisticated systems. The team gives the example of swarms of construction bots being sent into hazardous environments, such as in disaster zones or out into space.
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